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CHURCH FOLKLORE
CHURCH FOLKLORE
A Record of some Post-Reformation Usages in the
English Church, now mostly Obsolete
THE REV. J. EDWARD VAUX, M.A., F.S.A.
AUTHOR OF "SERMON NOTES," " THE PREACHER'S STOREHOUSE," u PREACHING, WHAT TO PREACH,
AND HOW TO PREACH," ETC. ETC.
" Many precious rites
And customs of our rural ancestry
Are gone, or stealing Irom us."
Wordsworth*
" We must not quarrel for a blot or two.
But pardon equally to books and men
The slips of human nature, and the pen."
Byron.
LONDON :
GRIFFITH FARRAN & CO.
NEWBERY HOUSE, 39 CHARING CROSS ROAD
1894
[77/i? Rights of Translation and of Reproduction are Reserved?^
THE MEMORY
OF
MY MOTHER,
A DEVOUT CHURCHWOMAN OF THE OLD SCHOOL,
THIS BOOK IS DEDICATED.
PREFACE
At the outset I must ask those who are good enough to
read this book to understand distinctly that its contents
are merely intended for the amusement, and perhaps for
the information, of the ordinary public, and that they are
in no sense addressed to scientific antiquaries.
When I began to search systematically into the local
religious habits and customs of the past, the extent over
which the subject reached was quite unknown to me. It
was arranged with the publishers that the book should be
but small in size in order that its price might be such as
would suit the general body of church folk who would be
likely to be interested in the subjects with which it deals.
But herein has lain a difficulty. The very large quantity
•of matter which came to hand has rendered the task of
selection somewhat puzzling. This difficulty, I fear, has
been but imperfectly met.
Everybody will see that, in this small volume, the fringe
only of the subject dealt with has been touched ; yet, as an
item in the history of religion in England, such matter, if
more fully recorded, would seem to be by no means unim-
portant. If those who read the volume agree with this
last statement, I venture to ask them to help towards an
amplification of this book in case a second edition should be
called for, by sending to me descriptions of any curious
local Church customs, obsolete or otherwise, which may be
known to them.
VUI PREFACE.
In this connection I may add that, in dealing with such
a variety of material, I cannot guarantee that, in all cases,
accuracy has been secured. I shall be grateful to any
reader who discovers a positive error in what I have stated
as a matter of fact, if he will inform me of it, and I
shall be pleased to correct it if I have the opportunity
of doing so.
It will be noticed that~a large portion of this volume
consists of matter which has been sent to me by private
correspondents as distinguished from the items which have
been gathered from published sources. To all such con-
tributors, known and unknown, I beg to tender my warm
thanks. There are some, however, who in one way or
another have rendered me so much help that I feel bound
to accord to them a more direct expression of gratitude.
I would specially mention Mr. J. T. Micklethwaite, F.S.A.,
and the Revs. W. J. Frere, Bowyer Vaux, and Edgar
Hoskins.
The readers of the Newbery House Magazine in 1892
will recognize some portions of the contents of this volume
as having appeared in the pages of that periodical.
J. E. V.
Crondall, Hants,
December, 1893.
P.S. — When too late for correction I see that the ex-
pression " under the gallows " with reference to a convict
(page 63), must simply mean that he communicated on
the morning of his execution.
CONTENTS
CHAPTER I.
THE CHURCH FABRIC.
Profanation of Churches, 1.— St. Paul's Walk, 1.— Dining with Duke
Humphrey, 2. — Uses to which Church Naves put, 2. — Church Ales,
4. — Sabbath and Sunday, 6.— Clerk Ales, 6.— Bride Ales, 7.—
The Boy Bishop, 7. — Eton Montem, 8. — Blasphemous Plays in
Churches, 9. — Curious Survival at St. Ives, 10. — Nomination in
Church of Candidates for Parliament, 10. — Ancient Pews, 11. —
Pew Quarrels, 11. — Churches without Seats, 12. — Appropriation of
Seats in the Past, 13. — Alley and Aisle, 14. — Pews in Village
Churches, 14. — Dean Swift on Pews, 15. — A Dog Pew, 15. — Dogs
at Mass, 15. — Bishop Corbet on Luxurious Pews, 16. — Refresh-
ments brought in during Service, 17. — Flapping the Church, 17. —
Clipping the Church, 18. — Dancing in Churchyard, 19. — Baal
Worship, 20.— "Sanctuary" Privileges, 22.— Frith Stool, 22.—
Refuge in Church Porch, 24.
CHAPTER II.
THE DAILY SERVICES.
Separation of Sexes, 28. — Its Principle maintained yet with varied
Practice, 30. — Curious Arrangement at Durham Cathedral, 31. —
Portable Stools used in Church, 31. — Bowing to the Altar, 32. — ■
Misconceived by late Prince Consort, 35. — Private Prayers before
Service, 36.— Archbishop Wake on Respect paid to Inanimate
Things, 36. — Kneeling at Verse in Venite, 37. — Bowing at the
Gloria, etc., 38. — Kneeling during Psalm cl., 38. — Turning to East
at Creed, 38. — Bowing at mention of the Holy Name, 39. — Turn-
ing to East at Gloria, 40. — Kneeling when Lord's Prayer read
in Lesson, 40. — Standing when Scriptural Canticles or Angelic
X CONl'ENTS.
Salutation read in Lesson, 40.— Kneeling at Ascription after Ser-
mon, 41.— Standing at the Entrance of Clergy and Municipal
Officials, 41.— Bowing to Churchyard Cross, 41.— Bare Heads in
Churchyard on Club Feast Day, 41.— Daily Service, 42.— Bishops
Sprat, Turner, and Patrick on Daily Service, 42.— High Church
Reaction under Queen Anne, 44.— " Pietas Londinensis," 44 —
Wednesday and Friday Services, 45.— William Law's Friday Din-
ner Parties, 45.— Observance of Lent, 45.— Curates only Saying
Prayers, 46.— The " Singing Psalms," Old and New Versions, 46.
" Authorised" Hymns, 48.— Words Read Out Line by Line, 48. —
Some of Tate and Brady's Psalms still in Use, 49.— Hat- Wearing
in Church, 49.— Spirit Drinking Encouraged by William III., 50.
— Pre-Reformation Hat- Wearing even at Elevation of Host, 50. —
The Spectator, Guardian, and Examiner on Irreverence in Church,
50. — The Fans and Sofa Cushions in American Church in Paris,
51. — Young's Satirical Description of Ladies in Church, 51.
CHAPTER III.
THE HOLY COMMUNION".
D lily Celebration intended in Post-Reformation Church, 53. — Mis-
chievous Return of Marian Exiles, 53. — Quarterly Communion,
54. — Bishops Cosin and Overall on Frequent Eucharists, 54. —
George Herbert on Frequency of Celebrations, 53. — Practice of
Bishop Andrewes, 55. — Celebrations now in City Churches, 55. —
Bishops Bull, Sherlock, and Beveridge regretted Infrequency of
Eucharists, 56. — Bishop Tomline's Complaint at fewness of Com-
municants at St. Paul's, 56. — The Chasuble and the Cope, 56. —
The Principle of the Eucharistic Vestments, 57. — Names of Com-
municants to be previously Signified, 57. — Communicating Fast-
ing, 57. — Daily Celebrations, 59. — Early Celebrations in Olden
Days, 61. — Communicants going up to Altar at words, "Ye that
do truly, etc.," 62. — Non-Communicating Attendance, 62. — Puritan
Arrangement of Altar Rails, 62.— -Sexes Communicating separately,
63. — Communicating " Under the Gallows," 63. — People Kneeling
throughout Communion Service, 64. — A whole Congregation Com-
municating, 64.— Huge Flagons at Minsterley, Salop, 64. — Altar
Arrangements in Channel Islands, 65.— Eastward Position, 65. —
Servers at Altar, 66. — Men Standing during Communion Service
06. — Priest going to Chancel Step to read Gospel, 66. — Men
Standing during Sermon, 67. — Modes of Collecting Offertory, 67.
Sums Given, 67. — Counting Offertory at Lichfield, 68. — Sanctus
Bell, 69.— "O Lamb of God," etc., and "Blessed is he," etc.
CONTENTS. xi
before and after Consecration, 69. — The Mixed Chalice, 69. —
Methodists careful that their Services shall not clash with Church
Services, 70. — Methodists and Congregationalists Communicating
in Church, 70. — The Houselling Cloth, 70. — Curious Usage at
Exeter Cathedral, 73. — Communicants Tokens, 73.
CHAPTER IV.
BAPTISMAL CUSTOMS.
First Water thought Lucky in Ireland, 74. — Oatcake Sewn in Infants
Clothes, 74. — Barbarous Custom in North Scotland, 74.— Child
Born with Open Hands Significant, 75. — Gifts to Infants, 75. —
Child Crying when Baptised Lucky, 75. — Reception into the
Church at Lyme Regis, 75. — Trine Affusion, 75. — Odd Christian
Names, 76 — Boys to be Baptised before Girls, 76. — Boy engaged
to be the first to meet Infant when starting for Church, 77. —
The Christening Palm, 78. — Christening Ornaments, 78. — Offerings
to Baptised Infants, 78. — Baptising Infant over Coffin of Deceased
Mother, 79. — Baptism by Immersion, 80. — Wells for Immersion
in Churches, 80. — Canon Cadman's Description of a Baptism by
Immersion, 81. — Baptising in Rivers in Wales, 82. — Private
Baptisms, 82. — Bishop Bull on these, 82. — Fees for Baptisms, 83. —
Stamp Duty on Registration of Baptism, 83. — Baptism of Blacka-
moor Servants, 84. — A Woman Enceinte not to be Sponsor, 84. —
Churching Women in Private Houses, 84. — Dean Comber's Opin-
ion, 84. — The Churching Vaile, 86. — Place occupied by Women
when Churched, 86. — Local Notions relative to Churching, 87. —
I egistering Churchings, 88. — Catechising in Eighteenth Century,
88.— Catechising at Eton, 89.
CHAPTER V.
MARRIAGE CUSTOMS.
Seasons when Marriage was Prohibited, 90. — Doggerel Lines on the
above in Church Register, 91.— Unlucky to Marry a Man with
same Initial to Surname, 91. — Banns of Marriage, 91. — Customs
connected with their Publication, 92. — "God speed them well,"
93.— Clerk "Blessing the Couple,'' 94.— Scorning (he Church, 94.
—Bidding Letters in Wales, 94.— Gifts at Welsh Marriages, 95.
— Parisian Bidding Letters, 96. — Part of Church for the
Beginning of the Service, 97.— How Old Usages Die Out,
99. — Purse with the Ring placed on Officiant's Book, 99.—
The Morgengabe, 100. — Officiant expected to Kiss the Bride, 100.
Xll CONTENTS.
—Race Home from Church to get a Kiss, 100.— Health Drinking
on Road Home, 100.— Dry-lipped Weddings Unlucky, 101.— Odd
Custom in relation to Marriage Fee, 101.— Sand Spread in Front
of Bride's House, 102.— Sawdust Spread along the Road to the
Church, 102.— Churchyard Path Strewed with Emblems of Bride-
groom's Trade, 102.— Parents of Couple to be Married do not
Attend the Service, 103.— Marking instead of Signing the Regis-
ter, 103.— Hot Pots, 103.— Bridal Party Detained by Floral Bar-
rier, 104.— The Louping Stone, 105.— Coppers Thrown to Crowd
when Couple are Leaving, 105.— Bridecake Thrown from Upper
Window, and Divination thereon, 106.— Questions in Service
answered in Low Voice, 10G. — Form of Anathema on a Young
Couple, 106. — Walk round Village on Evening of Wedding Day,
107. — Special Entrance and Exit Doors in Church, 107. — Glass
Dishes and Register Books on Altar at a Wedding, 107. — First
Couple Married in a New Church have Bible and Prayer Book
given them, 108. — Marriages in Church of St. John in the Wilder-
ness, 308. — Confirmation required before Marriage, 108. — Wheat-
Throwing over Newly-Married, 108. — Brides Dragged unwillingly
to Church in Scotland, 109. — Odd Form of Marriage at Galashiels,
109. — Public Announcement of Bride's Portion in Last Century,
109. — Persons very much Married, 110. — Marriage in the Smock,
111. — Fleet Marriages, 112. — Touting for, and Payment of Bride-
grooms, 113. — Parochial Authorities and Paupers, 113. — -Savoy
Marriages, 114. — May Fair Marriages, 114. — Canongate Marriages
in Edinburgh, 114. — Heavy Damages for Breach of Promise, 115. —
Solemn Betrothal, 115. — Penny Weddings, 115. — Marriages of
the Poor by License, 116. — Taxes on Marriage, 118.
CHAPTER VI.
FUNEKAL CUSTOMS.
Choral Funerals, 119. — Extracts from Machyn's Diary, 120. — The
Passing Bell, 121. — Deemed Superstitious by Puritans, 123. — The
" Tellers," 124.— Garb Worn at Funerals, 124.— Black Silk Scarf
for Officiant, 125. — Hat Bands, 125. — Pauper's Funerals, 125. —
Round Frocks at Funerals, 125. — Children's Funerals in Cornwall,
126. — Plastering Inside of Graves, 126. — Coffins carried with Nap-
kins, 127. — Linen Napkins only used- 128. — Bumping the Coffin,
129. — Dole to Attendants at Funerals, 129. — Bowing to the Coffin,
129.— Hymn Singing at Funerals, 130.— Arval Bread, 130. — Rest-
ing Stones, 130. — Bidding Rounds, 130. — Bidding Letters in Paris
132.— Lifting the Corpse, 133.— Derivation of "Funeral," 134.--
CONTENTS. Xlll
Unfastening Doors before Death, 134. — Jewish Custom, 135. —
Custom in Holland and Germany, 135. — Is Death a Sudden or
a Lengthened Operation ? 136. — Funeral Procession to go the way
of the Sun, 136.— Burial Fees, 136.— Curious Welsh Custom, 137.
— Voluntary Offerings, 137. — Burial Fees formerly Simoniacal,
138. — Sometimes collected on Sexton's Spade, 138. — Gifts left for
the Poor and for a Memorial Service, 138. — Superstitions as to
Deaths, 140. — The Sin Eater, 140. — Objects found in Graves and
Coffins, 141. — Burial of Unbaptised Children, 143. — Odd Usage at
Brecknock, 143. — Woman Buried in Dress she wore at her Confir-
mation, 143. — Burials in Woollen, 144. — Evasions of the Law, 145,
— Torchlight Funerals, 145. — Coffined and Uncoffined Burials,
146. — Our Burial Office ignores Coffins, 148. — Parish Shell at
Easingwold, 148 ; and at Youghal, ] 49. — Public Subscription for
Coffin in Ireland, 149. — White Stones found on Uncoffined Corpses
in Ireland, 150. — Burials in Erect Posture, 150. — Burials by Im-
mersion, 151. — Burial on North Side of the Church disliked, 152.
— Instances of Graves Facing North and South, 154. — Burial of
Suicides, 154. — Notes on Burials in Machyn's Diary, 155. — Funerals
of Royal Personages and the Nobility, 157.— Funeral Palls, 158. —
Filling up the Grave, 158. — Nails loosened from Coffin Lid before
being lowered, 159. — Wakes, 159. — Funeral Customs in Cumber-
land and Westmoreland, 160.— Coffin kept above Ground, 164.—
Tombstone Inscriptions, 165.— Memorial Garlands, 167.— Sprigs of
Box and Acacia, 169. — Grave Dressing, 170.
CHAPTER VII.
Legal Aspect of Penance, 173. — Excommunication, 174. — Penance in
Cornwall, 175.— Machyn's Penance, 175.— Marriage following
upon Penance, 176. — Public Penitential Acknowledgment, 177. —
Penance by Quakers, 165.— Penance for " Slander" in 1845, 178.
— Penance in Gloucestershire in 1846, and in Cambridgeshire in
1849, 178.
CHAPTER VIII.
THE CLERGY.
Use of word "Priest" in the North, 179.— Respect for the Clergy,
179.— Priest and Parson, 180.— The Title of "Lord Rector," 181;
and of " Archpriest," 182.— Two " Cardinals " in St. Paul's, 183 —
Privileges of the Cardinals, 183.— Social Status of Clergy in Last
Century, 184.— Remuneration for Clerical Duty, 185.— Refresh-
XIV CONTENTS.
ment provided for Clergy, 187.— Cakes and Beer given to Congre-
gation, 186.— Pluralities, 187.— Curious Instances of Pluralists,
188.— Church Privileges in the Scilly Isles, 188.— Gaol Chaplains,
189.— Clerical M.P.'s, 189.— Diplomatic Deacon, 190.— Clerics in
Charge of Peculiars. 190.
CHAPTER IX.
LAY CHURCH OFFICIALS.
Churchwardens, their Duties, 192.— Inspect Public-houses during Ser-
vice, 192. — Compel People to come to Church, 193. — Keep them
in order while there, 193. — Sometimes Women Chosen, 193.—
Payment for Killing " Urchins,'' 193. —Parish Clerk gave out
Notices in Church, 194. — Curious Example of Clerk's Notice, 195.
— Free-and-easiness in Country Churches, 195. — Clerk Ales, 195.
— Women as Parish Clerks, 195. — Legality of such Appointments,
196. — Hereditary Parish Clerks, 196. — Hereditary Sextons, 197. —
Legality of a Sextoness, 197. — Dog-whippers, their Duties, 196. —
Payment of Dog-whippers in Maryland, 198. — Dog-tongs, 198. —
Dog-whip, 200. — Endowment of Dog-whipper, 199. — Dog-whipper
to Awaken Sleepers, 199. — Implements for this purpose, 199. —
Dog-whipping at York, 200.
CHAPTER X.
CHURCH FURNITURE — ADJUNCTS, ETC.
Open Seats erected in 1750, 201. — Pew entirely covered in, 201. —
Library Pew at Langley Marsh, 202. — Anthem Sung in Organ
Loft, 202.— Election for Pews at Bury St. Edmunds, 203. Pont
in North Pier of Chancel Arch, 203. — Font in Westminster Abbey
Removed, 203. — Basins in Fonts, 204. — Musicians and Singers
Sitting round Altar, 205. — Post-Reformation Screens, 205.
Eagles in Sanctuary for Gospeller and Epistoller, 205. — Altar
Pieces representing the Blessed Virgin Mary and the Holy Child
put up in 1735, 205.— Movable Organs and Pulpits, 206.— Chained
Books in Churches, 206.— Hour-Glassin Pulpit, 208. — The Priest's
Watch, 210. — A Bell on Chancel Screen, 211. — Notices on Church
Doors, 212. — Finger Stocks in Church, 212. — Stocks in Church
Porch, 213.— Relics in Church, 214.— The Scold's Bridle, 213.—
Mother Ludlam's Kettle, 214.
CONTENTS. XV
CHAPTER XL
HOLY DAYS AND SEASONS.
Difficulty of Distinguishing between Religious and Secular Customs,
215.— T' Andrew Bell, 216. — Evergreens in Church on Advent
Sunday, 216.— Advent Images, 216.—" The Vessel Cup," 216.—
Name of " Advent" Universal, 217. — St. Thomas's Day Customs,
218.—" Going a Gooding," 217.— Carols at Christmas, 218.— Pic-
torial Carol, 218.— Misletoe and the Yule Log, 219.— The Ashton
Faggot, 220.— Curious Custom in Isle of Thanet, 220.— Odd
Christmas Usage at Raleigh, 221. — Dolls carried about by Carol-
Singers, 222. — Anthems and Carols in Exeter Cathedral, 221. —
Lights carried by Colliers at Christmas, 223. — Rector Escorted to
Church with Lighted Torches, 222. — Swansea Church Lighted with
Coloured Candles on Christmas Morning, 222. — Hot Broth pro-
vided for Carol-Singers, 223. — Christmas Fire Lighted only from
Borrowed Embers, 223. — Nosegay Presented by Clerk to Rector
on Christmas Morning, 223. — Carols Sung from Top of Crondall
Church Tower, 223.— Cruel Custom on St. Stephen's Day, 223.—
Holy Innocent's Day Observed Sorrowfully, 224. — Day Regarded
as Unlucky, 224. — No Scrubbing allowed on Childermas Day, 224.
— Muffled Peal on Eve of Circumcision, 224. — New Year Ushered
in with Joyous Peal, 224. — Epiphany Offerings by Monarch, 225.
— Change of Custom, 225. — City Custom on Twelfth Day, 225. —
Yorkshire Twelfth Day Custom, 225.— St. Paul's Day, Cornwall
Custom, 226. — Candlemas Day, Nottingham Custom, 226. — Cum-
berland and Ripon Customs, 227. — Shrove Tuesday, variety of
names given to, 227. — Shropshire, etc., Custom, 228. — Ball Day in
East Riding, 228. — Odd Names for Shrove Tuesday in Stafford-
shire, 228. — Isle of Wight Custom, 229. — Lent Observance in
Queen Elizabeth's Days, 229. — Lent Dispensations from Fasting,
230.— Observance of Lent in Eighteenth Century, 231.—" Mother-
ing Sunday," 231.— Simnel Cake, 231.— Fig-Pie Wake, 232.—
Carling Sunday, 232. — Curious Custotn in Herefordshire, 233.—
The Caistor Gad-Whip, 233.— Wiltshire and Salop Customs, 235.
— Curious Idea in Hants, 235.— Feet- Washing on Maundy Thurs-
day, 235. — Good Friday Customs, 237. — Wine Consumed at St.
Julian's, Shrewsbury, on Easter Day, 240.— Flowers given to
Clergymen at Easter, 241. — Early Communion at Usk, 241. —
Jewels Worn at Easter, 241. — Cakes Sold to Principal People at
Hawkchurch, 241. — Cakes given to Poor at Biddenden, 242.—
Heaving on Easter Monday and Tuesday, 242.— Easter Eggs, 243..
XVI CONTENTS.
—The May Queen, 243.— May Babies, 243.— May Poles, 243.—
Rogation Days, 244.— George Herbert on Rogations, 244.— Ac-
count of Rogation Procession, 245.— Quantity Eaten and Drunk
thereat, 248.— Elizabethan Injunctions about Perambulations, 248.
—Bequests for Rogation Refreshments, 248.— Archbishop Seeker
on Rogations, 249.— Rogations at Wolverhampton in Last Cen-
tury, 249.— Bequest for Ascension Day Service, 249.— Ascension
Day Rain- Water Curative, 250.— Sugar and Water Day, 250.—
Odd Ascension Day Gift to Clergy, 250.— Gift of Bread and Cheese
on Whitsunday, 251.— Church Decking on Whitsunday, 252.— Why
Birch was Used, 252.— Thump Sunday, 252.— Crack-Nut Sunday,
252. — St. Crispin's Day Observance, 252. — Observances on St.
Clement's Day, 253.—" Souring" on November 2, 253.
CHAPTER XII.
CHURCH MUSIC.
Dislike of the Puritans to Musical Services, 254. — Organs Destroyed,
254. — Variety of Instruments used in Cathedrals, 254.-— Organ
perhaps only used on Festivals, 255. — Bands in Village Churches,
255. — Barrel Organs, 250. — Parish Clerks and Psalmody, 256. —
Mode of Singing the Metrical Psalms, 257. — Responses suggestive
of Traditional Chanting of Service, 257. — Voluntaries, 257. — Sur-
pliced Choirs in Olden Time, 258. — Admission of Choristers at
Exeter, 258.— Bishop Blessing the Choir Boys, 259.— Carols, 259.
—The Seven Joys of Mary, 260.— Quaint Cornish Carol, 261 —
Carvals in the Isle of Man, 262.
CHAPTER XIII.
RUSH BEARING AND CHURCH DECORATION.
Churches Strewed with Rushes, 264. — Description of Rush Bearing,
265.— Church Decoration at the Three Great Festivals, 265. — Pre-
Reformation Mode of Decking Churches, 267. — Church Decking
in Wales, 267. — Tapestry Used for Church Decoration, 268.
CHAPTER XIV.
HOLY ■WEIiS.
Heathen Traditions Christianised, 269. — Virtues attributed to different
Wells, 270.— Our^Lady of Nant's Well, 270.— Gulnal Well, 270.—
The Gothic Well, 271.— St. Madron's Well, 271.— St. Nun's Well
CONTENTS. xvii
272.— St. Uny's Well, 272.— Well of Cam Brie, 273.— St. Rumon's
Well, 273.— St. Neot's Well, 273.— St. Keyne's Well, 273.—
Wendron Well, 273.— St. Winifred's Well, 274.— London Wells,
274.— St. Bride's Well, Fleet Street ; St. Chad's, Battle Bridge,
275.— The Lady of the Well, 275.— Bagnigge's Wells, 276.— Holy-
well Street, 276.— Offerings of Pins, 276.— St. Helen's Well, Lan-
cashire,' 276.— The Well at Gower, 277.— Pin Well ; Glastonbury
Well, 277.— Craigie Well, Odd Custom in respect to it, 278. —
Rags of Cloth as Offerings, 279. — Dipping Children in St. Bede's
Well, 279. — Resort to Holy Wells Discouraged in Scotland, 280. —
Resort to Highland Well to Cure Cattle, 280. —Dressing the Wells
at Tissington, 281.
CHAPTER XV.
SURVIVALS OP HEATHEN CUSTOMS.
Modernised Sacrifices at King's Teignton, and at Holme, Devonshire,
285. — Fisherman's Odd Custom at Prestonpans, 286. — Propitiatory
Sacrifice against Murrain, 287. — Suggested Human Sacrifice, 287.
— Cows Sacrificed in Scotland, 287. — Idolatry in Wales, 288. —
Fetichism in Ireland, 288. — Baal Worship in Scotland, 288. —
Baal Worship in Ireland, 289. — Midsummer Fires, 289. — Beltane
Day, 290. — Incantation, 290. — Baal Worship in Lancashire, 290.
— Official Protest against the Sacrifice of a Bull in Scotland, 291.
—Survival of Druidic Festival in Cornwall, 291.
CHAPTER XVI.
POPULAR SUPERSTITIONS.
Curious Instances of Ignorance, 293. —Candles Burnt in Church to
Discover Future Events, 294.— Wakes, their Origin, 297.— Listen-
ing at Church Door on Last Night of the Year, 297.— Ascension
Day Rain- Water good for the Eyes, 297.— Superstition of Penrhyn
Quarrymen, 298.— Divination by Bible and Key, 298.— Efficacy of
Eucharistic Species in Curing Diseases, 299.— Result of Sacrilegi-
ous Use of Holy Eucharist, 297.— A "Sacrament Shilling" as a
Cure for Fits and Rheumatism, 300.— Holy Water as a Cure for
Whooping Cough, 301.— Ground Stone from a Church as a Cure,
301.—" Coombe" from Church Bell to Cure Shingles, 302.— May
Morning Dew good for Consumption, 303.— Advent Images and
Toothache, 303.— The Royal Touch, 303.— Office Used on Touch-
ing for King's Evil, 304.— Sweepings of Church Floor to Ease a
b
XV111 CONTENTS.
Painful Death, 307. — Turf from Churchyard to Relieve Dropsy,
308.— Church Paten, with Salt, to secure Easy Death, 308.—
Lighted Candle put into Hand of Dying Infant, 308. — Supposed
Witch Weighed against Church Bible, 309. — A Spirit-Laying-
Clergyman, 309. — Odd Superstitions in Devonshire, 310. — The
Evil Eye, 310. — Pixie-Led People, 310. — Clergyman in Devonshire-
sent for to Lay a Ghost, 311.
Appendix I. — London Services in Queen Anne's Reign, 312.
Appendix II.— Odd Christian Names, 324.
CHRONOLOGICAL TABLE.
HENRY VIII. IS°9 — 1547
EDWARD VI. 1547 T S53
MARY 1553— ^S 8
ELIZABETH - 1558 1603
JAMES I. 1603 1625
CHARLES I. 1625 1649
COMMONWEALTH 1649 l6 53
OLIVER CROMWELL 1653 1 658
RICHARD CROMWELL 1658 1659
CHARLES II. 1660— 1685
JAMES II. 1685 1688
WILLIAM III. 1689 1702
ANNE 1702— I 7 14
GEORGE I. I7I4—I7 2 7
GEORGE II. 1727— 1760
GEORGE III. 1760— 1820
GEORGE IV. 1820— 1830
WILLIAM IV. - 1830— 1837
VICTORIA *°37
CHURCH FOLKLORE.
CHAPTER I.
THE CHURCH FABRIC.
When we search into the religious records of the past we
cannot help being, at times, painfully struck with what
appears to us a gross disregard to the sacredness of the
consecrated buildings in which our forefathers assembled
for worship. No doubt we owe a good deal of this to the
influence of the Puritans, but it must be remembered that
not a little of it was handed down to us by our pre-Reforma-
tion ancestors. So long as the chancels and chapels in
which the sacred rites were performed were kept from pro-
fanation, a degree of licence, utterly at variance with our
modern ideas of reverence, or even of the most ordinary
degree of propriety, was permitted, and the naves of our
cathedrals and parish churches seem to have been regarded
as the common homes of the people. Hence we find them
made use of for a variety of secular purposes. Everybody
has some sort of idea about " St. Paul's Walk" as a fashion-
able promenade in olden days, though they may not have
any very distinct notion as to what took place there. As a
matter of fact, it was the favourite place for gallants to meet
their mistresses, and where fashionable loungers idled away
A
2 CHURCH FOLKLORE.
their time chattering about the latest scandal in " society,"
or other current topics of interest. Hence, according to Dr.
Brewer, was derived the well-known phrase of "dining
with Duke Humphrey, of which Dickens makes a humorous
point in describing the antecedents of Diggory Chuzzlewit.
It signifies, of course, having no dinner to go to. Humphrey,
Duke of Gloucester, uncle to Henry VII., was renowned for
his hospitality. At his death it was reported that a monu-
ment would be erected to his memory at St. Paul's, though
he was buried at St. Alban's. When the more fortunate
promenaders left for dinner, the poor stay-behinds, who
had no dinner to go to, used to say to the gay sparks who
asked if they were going, that they would wait a little
longer, and look for the monument of the good Duke. The
fashionable hour for these promenades was as well defined
as that now observed by West End folk in London when
preparing for the afternoon drive, or for the canter in
Rotten Row. The nave of St. Paul's was the generally
recognised resort where those in " society " met, to see and
to be seen. The naves of churches in pre-Reformation
times were places where tradesmen assembled for bargain
and barter, where lawyers had interviews with their
clients, where owners of property deposited their goods,
and where divers courts of justice were held.
As regards St. Paul's Walk, Mr. Abbey tells us 1 that "it
was not only the recognised resort of wits and gallants, of
men of fashion, and of lawyers, but also, as Evelyn called
it, a stable of horses, and a den of thieves, a common
market, where Shakespeare makes Falstaff buy a horse as
he would at Smithfield. 2 Usurers in the south aisle, horse-
1 Abbey and Overton's "Church of England in the Eighteenth Cen-
tury,'' vol. ii., p. 419.
2 This is not quite correct according to my reading of the passage
which runs thus: — " Falstaff—' Where's Bardolph?' Page — 'He's
gone to Smithfield to buy your worship a horse.' Falstaff— 'I
THE CHURCH FABRIC. 3
dealers in the north, and in the midst all kinds of bargains
meetings, and brawlings. Before the eighteenth century
began, Paul's Walk was in all its main features a thing of
the past. Yet a good deal more than the mere tradition of
it remained. In a pamphlet published in 1703, 'Jest' asks
' Earnest ' whether he has been at St. Paul's and seen
the flux of people there. 'And what should I do there,'
said the latter, 'where men go out of curiosity and in-
terest, and not for the sake of religion ? You shopkeepers
assemble there as at fall change, and the buyers and sellers
are far from being cast out of the temple.' " At Durham
there was a regular thoroughfare across the nave in 1750,
and similarly at Norwich until 1748, when Bishop Gooch
stopped it. The naves of York Minster and of Durham
Cathedral were fashionable promenades. The Confessor's
Chapel at the Abbey made on occasion a convenient play-
ground for Westminster scholars, who were allowed as late
as 1829 to keep the scenes for their annual play in the
triforium of the north transept.
I understand that 1 the representatives of the Vavasour
family have a traditional right to ride on horseback into
the nave of York Minster, on the ground that an ancestor
of theirs granted freedom of carriage through his land for
stone used in the building of the cathedral. What
authority there is for the correctness of the statement I
cannot say.
Mr. J. C. Jeafferson, when discussing the question as to
the continuance of the old custom of holding the ecclesias-
tical courts in churches, is not quite accurate in stating, as
he does in his "Book about the Clergy," 2 that the Corn-
bought him in Paul's, and he'll buy me a horse in Smithfield, an' I
could get me but a wife in the stews, I were manned, horsed, and
wifed.'" — "Henry IV.," part ii., act i., sc. 2.
1 Notes and Queries (1857), p. 418.
2 Vol. i., p. 341.
4 CHURCH FOLKLORE.
missary Court of Surrey still holds its sittings in the
church of St. Saviour's, Southwark. The rector tells me
that the Ladye Chapel is a " consistory court," and it was
there that the "Anglican martyrs" were tried in 1555.
The Chancellor of the Diocese still holds his courts there
to consider and decide upon disputed applications for
faculties.
It is worth while, in passing, to state that one of the
charges made by the Puritans against Laud was that he
forbade the justices of the peace to hold their court in the
church at Tewkesbury because it was consecrated ground.
But, as regards the irreverence spoken of above, it is
only right to state that those in authority were fully alive
to the scandals which were rife, and that their wish was to
put a stop to them. But even Henry VIII., with all his
persistent energy and undoubted power, was unable to
check the prevailing licence, and his injunction that no
person should abuse the churches either by eating, drink-
ing, buying, selling, playing, dancing, or witli other
profane and worldly matters, seems to have been prac-
tically still-born. His edict had especial reference to what
were known as "Church Ales," and the like. These
parochial gatherings and merrymakings continued for
many years after this king's reign, and throw no little
light upon the customs of our forefathers. A brief de-
scription of them will, therefore, be interesting.
The Church Ale, or Whitsun Ale, as it was sometimes
called, from the festival duriDg which it was usually held,
was quite an institution in olden times, and seems to have
been carried on in a very systematic, if not, according to
our ideas, in a very seemly manner. Two wardens were
generally chosen to superintend the preparations, and some-
times there was a lord and a lady, as in the churchwarden's
accounts at Brentford, in 1674, appears an item : — "Paid to
her that was lady at Whitsontide, by consent, 5 shillino-s."
THE CHURCH FABRIC. 5
At such times collections of money were made for church
purposes. Stubbes in his "Anatomy of Abuses," 1585
gives the following account of "The Maner of Church Ales
in England : — ■
" In certain townes where dronken Bacchus beares swaie
against Christmas and Easter, Whitsontide, or some other
tyme, the churchwardens of every parishe, with the con-
sent of the whole parishe, provide halfe a score or twenty
quarters of meult, whereof some they buy of the churche
stocke, and some is given them of the parishioners them-
selves, everyone conferring somewhat according to his
abilitie ; which mault being made into very strong ale or
beere, is sette for sale either in the church, or some other
place assigned for that purpose. Then, when this is set
abroche, well is he that can gette the soonest to it, and
spend the most at it. In this kinde of practice they con-
tinue sixe weekes, a quarter of a yeare, yea, halfe a year
together. That money, they say, is to repair their churches
and chappels with ; to buy bookes for service ; cuppes for
the celebration of the Sacrament : surplesses for Sir John,
and such other necessaries. And they maintain other
extraordinarie charges in their parish besides." 1
In connection with the above extract it may be worth
while for me to note, that it appears from Kethe's sermon
at Blandford in 1570, that it was the custom at that time
for the Church Ales to be kept upon the " Sabbath Day,"
which holy day, says our author, " the multitude call their
revelying day, which day is spent in bul baitings, beare
baitings, bowlings, dicyng, cardyng, daunsynges, drunken-
ness, and whoredom, inasmuch as men could not keepe
their servauntes from lyinge out of theyre owne houses
the same Sabbath Day at night."
1 Brand's "Pop. Antiq.," Hazlitt's ed., vol. ii., p. 158.
<5 CHURCH FOLKLORE.
'' A word or two about the introduction of this word
"Sabbath," to signify Sunday, may be interesting. The
elder Disraeli was probably not far wrong when he fixed
upon 1554 as the date approximately when the word
came to be first used in England. Mr. Govett notes that
up to the present time the proceedings in the House of
Lords on a Saturday are headed in the Journal as " Dies
Sabbati." An amusing incident is recorded as having
happened in Parliament when a discussion took place as
to the King's Declaration respecting the " Book of Sports."
In 1620 (Feb. loth), a Bill was introduced for the " Keep-
ing of the Sabbath, otherwise called Sunday." During the
debate a certain Mr. Shepherd asserted that the Bill had
been wrongly named, " for that everybody knew that the
Sabbath was Saturday, wherefore, it should have been
intituled, ' An Act for the observance of Saturday, other-
wise called Sunday.' " 1
There were minor festivities similar in character to that
mentioned above, and used for the gathering of money,
much, I presume, as are our modern bazaars and sales of
work. Thus we find Clerk Ales, the purpose of which was
to provide a salary for the parish clerk. As the Church
Ale served to supply what we now understand by Church
Rates and Poor Rates, so the Clerk Ale provided stipends
for the minor officers of the Church. In a letter from
Bishop Pierce to James I. there is the clause — -" People sent
him (the clerk) provision, and came on Sundays to feast
with him, by which he sold more ale. And since these
have been put down, many ministers have complained to
me that they are afraid they shall have no parish clerks.'' 2
1 Govett'a " King's Book of Sports," pp. 17, 44.
2 Govett : p. 57. I am puzzled by this reference by the author, as,
so far as I can discover, there was no Bishop Pierce during the rei<m
of James I., which extended from 1603 to 1625. There was John Piers
Archbishop of York, who died in 1594, and William Piers, Bishop of
THE CHURCH FABRIC. 7
It would be easy to enlarge upon institutions similar to
the above, such as " Bid Ales " and " Bride Ales," and to
show how excesses grew out o£ these church merry-
makings, albeit they were established for a good purpose.
Not the least memorable of these jollifications which con-
duced to scandal were the funeral banquets, from which it
appears how closely eating, drinking, and burying were
connected in olden time. It is evident that a good deal of
importance was attached to these funeral frolics by our an-
cestors, for in Strype's edition of Stowe's " London," we find
that Margaret Atkinson, by her will, Oct. 18, 1544, ordered
that " the next Sunday after her burial, there be provided
two dozens of bread, a kilderkin of ale, two gammons of
bacon, three shoulders of mutton, and two couple of rabbits,
desiring all the parish, as well rich as poor, to take part
thereof, and a table to be set in the middle of the church
with everything necessary thereto." 1
A canon of 1571 forbade churchwardens holding banquets
and public entertainments in churches ; but Stubbs shows
that in 1585 Church Ales, etc., were still not infrequently
held there. It sounds something like a paradox, says Mr.
Abbey, to assert that the exclusion from churches of all
that is not distinctly connected with the service of religion
was mainly due to the Puritans, of whose wanton irreverence
we hear so much. Yet this seems certainly to have been
the case. It may be as Mr. Abbey charitably supposes, but
I should be inclined to think that the apparent scrupulous-
ness of the Puritans was more from dislike to the festivities
than from reverence to the churches.
Among what may be called church frolics in days of old,
few, if any, are better known, by name at least, than that
of the " Boy Bishop." This burlesque ceremonial took place
Peterborough, consecrated in 1630, but one of these was too early, and
the other too late.
1 Jeafferson : " Book of the Clergy," vol. i., p. 354.
8 CHURCH FOLKLORE.
generally on Dec. 6, the Festival of St. Nicholas, who was
regarded as the patron of children. The proceedings were
nothing more or less than a parody of some of the more
sacred offices of the Church, and what is more, took place
oftentimes in cathedrals with the full sanction of the
clergy. With our modern ideas we have a difficulty in
imagining how such profane buffoonery could, in any age,
be tolerated, to say nothing of encouraged. Nevertheless,
it continued as late as the reign of Henry VIII., when we
find so respectable a dignitary as Dean Colet, in his "Statutes
of St. Paul's School in 1512," prescribing that the scholars
should come on Holy Innocent's Day to hear the Child
Bishop's sermon, and after be at High Mass, and each of
them to offer a penny to the Child Bishop. 1 This burlesqu-
ing of holy rites was discontinued in 1542, and excepting
an attempt to revive it during Mary's reign, we hear no
more of it.
Those who wish to learn more about the Boy Bishop will
find as much as they will need in Hone's " Ancient
Mysteries."
I should not have called attention to it at all had it not
been that a ceremonial with which the older readers of this
volume are more or less familiar — -the " Eton Montem " — is
believed to have grown out of it. One of the usages thereat,
which was observed until the middle of the last century,
was undoubtedly a survival of the Boy Bishop pageant.
When the procession reached Salt Hill a boy dressed in
clerical robes came forward and read prayers, whilst
another boy officiated as clerk, who at the end of the service
was kicked down hill by the mock parson. George III.
was a great patron of the show, and encouraged it by hand-
some donations when the salt bearers came round ; but the
first time that Queen Charlotte saw this part of the frolic,
she was so shocked at its irreverence that it was from
] Govett : p. 30.
THE CHURCH FABRIC. 9
thenceforth abandoned. As we all know, the Eton Montem
was finally abolished in 1847.
But to return. Gross as was the irreverence fostered hy
the Church Ales, and similar profane uses to which conse-
crated buildings were put, it was as nothing when compared
with what was done by the Anti-Eoman party under
Thomas Cromwell. Blunt quotes Foxe and Burnet in
support of this, and shows how Cromwell caused ballads to
be circulated of the most ribald and false character, and
encouraged his sectarian followers to act blasphemous plays
in the churches dedicated to God. 1 " This valiant soldier
of Christ," writes Foxe, " the aforesaid Lord Cromwell, as
he was most studious of himself in a flagrant zeal to set
forward the truth of the Gospel, seeking all means and
ways to beat down the false religion, and to advance the
true, so he always retained unto him, and had about him
such as could be found helpers and furtherers of the same ;
in the number of whom were sundry fresh and quick wits
pertaining to his family, by whose industry and ingenious
labours divers excellent ballads and books were contrived
and set abroad concerning the suppression of the Pope, and
all Popish idolatry." These ballads are of the most abom-
, inable kind, full of immorality and obscenity. Burnet also
says that " the political men of that party " made great use
of stage plays and interludes, which were often acted in
churches, " encouraging them all they could," and that
these plays represented " the immoralities and disorders of
the clergy," and the " pageantry of their worship." 2 Well
might Blunt add : — " The horrible coarseness of such repre-
sentations of immorality, and the blasphemy of parodying
the Holy Eucharist in the very House of God itself, seems
not to have struck these writers."
As an instance of how long the abuses will survive, and
1 J. H. Blunt: "History of Reformation," p. 273.
v ; Burnet : "Reformation," i., 502, Pocock's ed.
10 CHURCH FOLKLORE.
long custom render people blind to acts of gross irreverence,
the following will be of interest.
In the Standard of May 24th, 1888, the following para-
graph appeared : —
" A curious custom was yesterday observed in the Parish
Church of St. Ives, Hunts. Dr. Robert Wilde, who died in
August, 1678, bequeathed £50, the yearly interest of which
was to be expended in the purchase of six Bibles, not ex-
ceeding the price of 7s. Gd. each, which should be ' cast for by
dice ' on the communion table every year by six boys and six
girls of the town. A piece of ground was bought with the
£50, and is now known as ' Bible Orchard.' The legacy also
provided for the payment of 10s. yearly to the vicar for
preaching a sermon on the occasion ' commending the excel-
lency, the perfection, and divine authority of the Holy
Scriptures.' This singular custom has been regularly ob-
served in the Church since the death of the testator, but
representations having been made to the Bishop of the-
Diocese, the practice of throwing the dice on the communion
table was discontinued some years ago, and the raffling now
takes place on a table erected at the chancel steps. The-
highest throw this year (three times with three dice) was
37, by a little girl. The vicar (Rev. E. Tottenham) preached
a sermon on the words, ' From a child thou hast known the
Holy Scriptures.' "
The younger ones amongst us are probably not aware
that almost, if not quite, within the memory of their elders
still living, strangely secular usages were not uncommon in
churches. I have a letter before me in which the writer
says : — ■" Sir George Provost (late Archdeacon of Gloucester,
and Isaac Williams' brother-in-law) tells me that he remem-
bers the candidate for a parliamentary election being pro-
THE CHURCH FABRIC. II
posed and seconded in Cirencester Church." This was a
common tiling in many places seventy years ago.
Apart from all reverential considerations, the nave of a
church would, according to our modern ideas, seem to be
about as inconvenient a place for a parish merry-making as
could be well imagined. But it must be remembered that,
in the days of which we have, been speaking, the naves of
churches were to a great extent devoid of furniture, and
were simply large, open spaces, such as are still to be seen
in some of our cathedrals. The introduction of pews for
the convenience of worshippers was very gradual. Most
writers who touch upon the subject consider that these
fixed seats in churches were introduced in the reign of
Henry VIII., but this is incorrect, for I find a notice of
their existence nearly a hundred years before his time. A
will, dated 1453, is extant in which the phrase, " Sedile
vocatum pew," occurs. 1 And what is more to the purpose,
the churchwarden's accounts of the Parish of St. Margaret's,
Westminster, 1498-1500, contain the following entries of
" Receytes of Pews " : —
"Item R. of the wyffe of the George for hir parte of a
new Pewe. iijs.
Item R. of Wilton Wynnes for his parte of a Pewe in
the trinite Chapell. iijs iiid.
Item R. of Will m Griffe and Thomas ffroste for licence
to sette a pewe bi the chirche dore. xijd.
Item R. of Jamys Hansett^ns wyfe, and Juliane Notare's
wyfe for a Pewe xvjd.
Item R of Wynkyns wyfe for hir part of a Pewe. viij."
As for the time being I am incidentally dealing with
pre-Reformation matters in connection with pews, it may be
interesting if I note that certain squabbles about seats in
1 Waloott's " Sacred Archeology,?' p. 443.
12 CHURCH FOLKLORE.
church which have occasionally taken place in our own
days are shown to have not been altogether unknown in
times long past. A correspondent to the Penny Post, 1
quoting, I believe, from Maitland's " History of London "
(1756), tells us that, in 1417, " the Ladies Grange and Trussel,
inflamed by an old grudge about precedence, being in a pew
in the church in St. Dunstan's in the East, they imperiously
vied for superiority, and became so shamefully outrageous
that the Lord Grange and Mr. Trussel drew their swords, and
not listening to any accommodation, murdered Thomas
Petward, a fishmonger, and wounded many others ; for which
offence they were excommunicated by the Archbishop of
Canterbury, and not absolved until due reparation had been
made, both to the church and the widow of Mr. Petward."
I have met somewhere with a similar story of two ladies
who, like those just mentioned, had a dispute for precedence
in the matter of seats in church. This contention was by
mutual agreement settled in a much simpler fashion. One
of them proposed to refer the question to an arbitrator, and
suggested that the rector should be appealed to. The
parson, like a sensible man as he was, gave his decision
that the elder of the two ladies ought to have the preference.
It need scarcely be said that nothing more was heard about
the quarrel.
In a print in Sparrow's " Rationale," which was pub-
lished in 1697, no seats for the worshippers are visible.
Possibly the sketch was from some church in either the
diocese of Exeter or Norwich, of which Sees Sparrow was,
in turn, bishop.
It would appear that the introduction of pews was not
regarded with approval by the better part of the clergy.
Latimer, who was consecrated Bishop of Worcester in 1535
disapproved of the innovation, and so did Bradford, who
was'Prebendary of St. Paul's about the same time, and Sir
1 Penny Post (1862), p. 53.
THE CHURCH FABRIC. 13
Thomas More also spoke against them. At this time the
aged and infirm used portable stools, which appear to have
been employed for many years. The well-known story of
Jenny Geddes hurling her stool at the head of the Dean
when Charles I., at the instance of Archbishop Laud, intro-
duced the new service book into Scotland, shows that, in
1636, fixed seats had not then become general in the
North. 1
An instance of the official appropriation of fixed seats
in cburch, in the early part of the seventeenth century, can-
not fail to be of interest. The Rev. H. H. Minchin, who
was Vicar of Woodford Halse, Northamptonshire, from
1855 to 1884, was good enough, during his incumbency of
that parish, to send me the following extract from his
Church Register : —
" Primo die Maii Anno Dni 1619.
" Memorand — it was agreed uppon the daie and yeare
first above written by Mr. Hawkins Vicar John Chappell
George Handcocke Churchw. John Gibbs and Richard
Rowse sidesmen that Thomas Hill of Hinton and his wife
their heires and assignes shall sit in the uppermost seat in
the North the next unto the pue of Hugh Catesby gent as
belonginge of right unto their new dwellinge Howse in
Hinton for ever As may appeare more fullie by their Deede
under their (several ?) handes for the better confirmacon
hereof."
" Primo die Maii Anno Dni 1619.
" Memorand — it was agreed uppon the daie and yeare
first above written by Mr Hawkins Vicar John Chappell
3 A stool, which is said to be the one which Jenny Geddes threw at
the Dean, is in the Antiquarian Museum at Edinburgh. It is four-
legged with a seat of woollen material, and made to shut up like what
are now called " croquet stools.''
H CHURCH FOLKLORE.
George Handeocke Ghurchw. John Gibbs and Ricliard
Rowse sidesmen that the third of the nethermost seat
save one next unto the ffonte and that next unto the
of the said seate butting into the middle Alley of the Prsh
Church of Woodford shall for ever hereafter remaine and
bee as of right unto the new dwellinge howse of Thomas
Cheeckley, situate in Hinton and to his heirs and assignes
for ever as more at large may appeare by their deede under
their (several ?) hands (delivered ?) to the same Tho.
Cheeckley by the above named Mr. Hawkins, Church-
wardens and sidesmen."
Another entry of the same date gives the original name
" alley," which we have corrupted into "aisle," — " the seat
butting into the middle alley." "Alley" is, of course,
derived from the French allee, a passage, whilst "aisle " is
from the French aile — a wing. To speak of the north and
south aisles in a church is correct enough, because, in using
these terms we do not mean to signify the passages, but
those portions of the structure which are on either side of
the nave, to resemble, in imagination, the wings of a bird.
But to talk about the " middle aisle," by which is always
meant the passage up the nave, must be wrono-, as it is
absurd to talk about a " middle wing."
Up to nearly the middle of the present century a pew
remained in the Church of Geddington St. Mary, North-
amptonshire, bearing on it the date 1602. When the
church was reseated some fifty years ago the dated panel
was very judiciously worked into the door of the cupboard
appropriated to the surplices. There was another pew in
the same church dated 1604. Although, as it would seem,
pews were not infrequent in town churches during Eliza-
beth's reign, I imagine that they were rarely seen in
country villages like Geddington, and the fact of those
mentioned being dated seems to show that the church
THE CHURCH FABRIC. 1 5
officials were rather proud of introducing the new fashion
in such a place. Indeed, considerably more than a hundred
years after this — i.e. in 1725 — Swift, when enumerating
the plagues of a country life, makes " a church without
pews" a special item in his list. 1 It is evident that he
altered his mind as he grew older, for, in 1708 (as it is
believed), he wrote his " Baucis and Philemon," and there
we have him ridiculing pews in this fashion : —
" A bedstead of the antique mode,
Compact of timber many a load ;
Such as our grandsires wont to use,
Was metamorphosed into pews ;
Which still their ancient nature keep,
By lodging those disposed to sleep."
As strange an instance of the way in which pews have
in past times been utilised that I have ever met with has
been mentioned to me by Mr. Edward Peacock, F.S.A., who
tells me that at Northorpe Church, Lincolnshire, until
about 60 years ago, there was a small pew, just within the
chancel arch, known as "The Hall Dog Pew," in which the
dogs who followed his grandfather to church were im-
prisoned during the service. He tells me that it was not so
used during his time, but that he remembers the pew very
well. He adds that it was not an uncommon, thing for an
aunt of his to take her dog with her to the same church.
Perhaps in this connection I may be permitted to record a
personal reminiscence. Some dozen or more years ago, I
was in Connemara salmon fishing. The first Sunday the
landlord of the hotel where I was staying kindly offered
me a seat in his car , to convey me to a chapel on the bog
three or four miles off for the midday mass. I gladly ac-
cepted the lift. The chapel was of the most primitive
kind, and the floor was but of beaten clay. When I en-
tered, the altar rails were closely packed with worshippers,
1 Abbey and Overton : vol. ii., p. 422.
1 6 CHURCH FOLKLORE.
who were, I presume, all shepherds. There was only one
" pew," which belonged to the " quality," i.e. the landlord
and his family. I preferred to kneel alongside my attend-
ant " ghillie " (to use a Scotch term) who was there. There
were a dozen dogs at least in the chapel, several of them
sitting behind their masters, who were kneeling at the altar
rail. One of these sheep-dogs amused me greatly. He sat
most quietly through the earlier portion of the mass. As
soon as the Creed had been recited, and the celebrant
turned round to deliver the sermon, the dog looked up, as
much as to say, " Oh, sermon time ! all right," and having,
dog fashion, walked round three times, curled himself up
for a comfortable sleep. The sermon, which did not last
more than ten minutes, being over, the dog woke up, and
sat on his tail behind his shepherd master until the service
was ended. There was something so deliciously human
about this that I have never forgotten it. I have described
the incident exactly as it happened, without the slightest
exaggeration. The experience was too delightful to have
escaped my memory.
It is interesting to note how soon pews came to be
abused, and made to minister to man's luxury and selfish-
ness, and how two centuries and a half ago the same com.
plaint was made of them, as every one of us has personally
heard, times out of number. Bishop Corbet of Norwich,
who died in 1635, in condemning these private seats, declared
that " stately pews are now become tabernacles, with rings
and curtains to them. There wants nothing but beds to
hear the Word of God on. "We have casements, locks,
keys, and cushions — I had almost said bolsters and pillows
— and for these we love the church ! I will not guess
what is done in them, who sits, stands, or lies asleep at
prayers, Communion, etc. ; but this I dare say, they are
either to hide disorder or proclaim pride." 1
] Jeafferson, "Book of the Clergy," vol. ii., p. 14.
THE CHURCH FABRIC. \J
I cannot refrain from borrowing a choice morsel from
Mr. Abbey at this point. After quoting from Mr. Beresford
Hope's "Worship in the Church of England" to the effect that
pews in modern days had been " sometimes filled with sofas
and tables, and even provided with fire-places," he remarks
that cases might be mentioned where the tedium of a long
service, or the appetite engendered by it, were relieved by
the entry, between prayers and sermon, of a livery ser-
vant with sherry and light refreshments, adding that such
an instance was once mentioned to him hy Bishop Eden,
the late Primus of the Church in Scotland. 1
And in connection with this question of pews, I find that
until about fifty years ago a most singular custom was ob-
served at Otteringham, a village of Middle Holderness,
about seven miles from Hedon in the East Riding of York-
shire. 2 This took place on the even of November 5, and
consisted in what was called " Flapping the Church." Each
lad in the parish having provided himself with a cord, to
which was attached a stout piece of leather about six inches
long, proceeded to the church, headed by the parish clerk.
Being all assembled in the church, which was lighted up for
the occasion, the ringers started a peal, and then the
flapping began. The clerk shouted out, " Now, boys, flap
away ! " and then all the pews in the church were assailed
inside and out by the flappers. Having threshed the pews
for some time, encouraged by the clerk's cry, " Flap away,
boys ! " the leather weapons were generally at the end
directed against each other, and the whole ceremony closed
with a general steeplechase through the sacred building.
At Roose, in Middle Holderness, was a similar custom, but
was there called " Babbling." Also at Skirlaugh, in North
Holderness, this ceremony was yearly observed.
1 Abbey and Overton: " Church of England in the Eighteenth Cen^
tury," vol. ii., p. 423.
2 Notes and Queries (1858), p. 236.
1 8 CHURCH FOLKLORE.
There is another custom connected with the fabric of the
church which is well worth recording. The account which
I am able to give of it has been kindly furnished to me by
the Rev. A. B. Timbrell, Vicar of Cradley, in Staffordshire.
The substance of his letter I must give in my own words.
He tells me that what is called in his neighbourhood
"' Clipping the Church " has prevailed for some time,
although his parish is, comparatively speaking, a new one,
dating from 1841, and the church was erected in 1798.
The custom must therefore have been introduced in imita-
tion of that prevalent in those parts — perhaps from Wolver-
hampton, as we shall see presently. The practice, he tells
me, was for the children in the national schools to join
hand in hand round the church, and to dance and shout.
If there were not enough children in the schools to surround
the church, idle boys and girls from the streets were called
in. " Last year," says Mr. Timbrell, "the first of my incumb-
ency, I continued the practice, minus the dancing, and then
assembled the children on the steps in front of the church,
and made them sing a hymn, and then gave them a short
address, explaining the custom to mean that the church be-
longed to them as baptised Christians. This year," proceeds
the vicar, "as there was nothing of antiquity in the custom,
so far as this parish is concerned, I discontinued it, and
find that I have gratified devout church people by doino- so.
My own impression," adds Mr. Timbrell, "is that the practice
was introduced by one of my predecessors, a Mr. Jones, pre-
sumably a Welshman, who died about 1848. No sucli
custom exists or has existed at the Mother Church of this
parish, Halesowen, so far as I know."
My correspondent has been good enough to furnish me
with some extracts relative to the custom of " Clipping the
Church," from a book published in 1859, and written by
the Rev. W. H. Jones, who was an antiquary of repute. It
had to do with the parish of Bradford-on-Avon in North
THE CHURCH FABRIC. 19
Wiltshire, and the author mentions an old custom which he
says had not then passed away, and which until the church-
yard was inclosed, was strictly observed.
" On the morning of Shrove Tuesday, from time imme-
morial, a bell has been tolled. The original purpose of
such tolling has, of course, been long forgotten, though, no
doubt, in olden times the people were thus summoned to
confess their sins to the priest, or to ' shrive ' themselves
as it was called, the especial work of Shrove Tuesday,
whence it derives its name. Shortly after the bell ceased,
all the boys and youths of the town, both those from the
schools and those apprenticed to divers crafts — custom, in-
deed, had given to the latter a sort of presumptive claim to
a holiday on the occasion — clustered in great numbers in
the churchyard, and sought, by joining hands, entirely to
encircle the church. There was, of course, on the circle
being completed, the usual quantity of jumping and shout-
ing. They called this ceremony ' Clipping the Church.'
The term I cannot doubt is derived from the Anglo-Saxon
' e lyp-P an >' which means, to embrace or clasp.
" What was the origin or first intention of this custom it
is impossible now to say. Were it observed at the time of
the festival kept in commemoration of the consecration of
the church, namely on Trinity Monday, we should judge
it to be a relic of the old sports and pastimes usual on such
occasions. In days gone by, fairs were commonly held in
churchyards ; indeed, within these very few years such have
been held in that of St. James', Bristol, when the people
thought little of dancing about the church. In Malkin's
' Scenery and Antiquities of South Wales ' we are told, —
' The custom of dancing in the churchyard at their feasts
and revels is universal in Radnorshire, and very common in
other parts of the Principality. Indeed, this solemn abode
is rendered a kind of circus for every sport and exercise.
20 CHURCH FOLKLORE.
They play at " fives " and " tennis '' against the walls of the
church. They do not dance on the graves, but on the
north side where there are no graves.' In the case of Brad-
ford churchyard, the booths, at the time of the annual fair,
were in olden time brought close to its limits, and the south
wall of the church tower shows unmistakable evidences of
having been used for the balls of the tennis players. The
Boys' Dance round the church, however, formed no part of
the Trinity Festival.
" It is possible that the custom we have been describing
is the relic of some very ancient observance. Though we
do not profess to rely on the facts we are about to mention
as an explanation of this Bradford custom, yet still they
lend some colour to a conjecture that its origin may be
sought in extreme antiquity.
" In days when Baal (the sun) was the chief object of
worship, as in ancient Britain and many other countries, a
circular dance in allusion to the sun's supposed motion
round the earth formed part of the ceremony. The Hindoo
also used the Baas Jattra, or ' dance of the circle/ in honour
of Vishnu (the sun). Many British monuments, moreover,
are in circular form, as Stonehenge, Abury, etc. Stonehenge
was called ' the Giant's Dance,' and a circle in Cornwall is
termed ' Dance Maine ' — dance stones. The Bev. VV.
Bathurst Deane relates that at Carnac in Brittany, where
there are remains of an immense stone avenue and circle,
the villagers are accustomed, at an annual festival held on
the day of the carnival, to unite in a general dance. The
dancers commence in a circle, and having performed a few
revolutions, wheel off to the right or left. They call this
par excellence, ' Le Bal ; ' this, he suggests, may mean no-
thing more than the French word bal, or public dancino-.
Mr. Scarth, however, intimates an opinion that it may be,
after all, the vestige of the sacred dance of Baal, though its
original meaning may be forgotten. A tradition of this
THE CHURCH FABRIC. 21
circular dancing appears in many fables respecting Druidieal
temples in England. The stones are said to be human
beings petrified in the midst of a dance, and all the temples
to which such superstitions are attached are circular. At
Stanton Drew the stones are called ' The Wedding,' and
one of them is especially designated ' The Bride,' and here
tradition says that they were all men and women turned
into stone at a wedding dance. At the St. John's Eve,
moreover, called in Ireland to this day ' Beltan Fires,' they
danced by night round them, carrying torches in their
hands. A similar custom was observed in Cornwall.
"Though such facts as have been detailed cannot be
taken as any positive explanation of the ' Boys' Dance '
round the church on Shrove Tuesday, yet thus much we
may perhaps infer from them, viz. that our Bradford custom
is no doubt very old, and that it may have arisen from
some ancient usage of that kind."
I suggested above that the custom of " Clipping the
Church " at Cradley may possibly have been introduced in
imitation of a similar custom which formerly prevailed at
Wolverhampton. I gather from a printed slip kindly
forwarded to me by Mr. Thomas B. Trowsdale, who has
written much on local customs, that at the beginning of the
present century a number of boys " at holy day time " used
to collect together, and taking hold of hands, to proceed
along the streets until they had gathered a sufficient num-
ber to enable them to "Clip" St. John's Church or
" Chapel " as it was then called. The dancing and shouting
described above then took place. The writer states that
he has been informed that a similar frolic has, on a few
occasions, been carried out in connection with the Collegiate
Church at Wolverhampton.
In the first edition of Hone's " Every Day Book," which
I have, dated 1826, there is an account of " Clipping the
22 CHURCH FOLKLORE.
Church " as a usage in Birmingham when L. S., the contri-
butor to the volume, was a child. After describing how
the charity children assembled on each Easter Monday for
the ceremony, he says : — " As soon as the hand of the last of
the train had grasped that of the first, the party broke up
and walked in procession to the other church (for in those
days Birmingham boasted but of two), where the ceremony
was repeated." 1
It is well known that in ancient times the privilege of
" sanctuary " was accorded to persons who broke the laws,
and who were able to reach a church or other privileged
place before they were apprehended. In some instances
the protection extended to those who set foot within
the cathedral or church precincts. Mr. Walcott, in his
" Sacred Archaeology," states that this privilege pertained
to Durham, Westminster, Carrow, Rainsey, Crowland,
Ripon, Tintern, Leominster, and Worcester. In some places
the church itself only was available for sanctuary. Thus,
at Hexham and at St. Gregory's, Norwich, a ring-knocker
still remains on the north door. This was for the use of
persons flying from justice: Alsatia, the precinct of White-
friars, London, was the last sanctuary in use before the
privilege was wholly abolished in 1624.
Haydn, in his "Dictionary of Dates" (13th edition),
states that persons were secure from arrest in the f olio win o-
localities in London. The Minories, Salisbury Court,
Whitefriars, Fulwoods Rents, Mitre Court, Baldwin's Gar-
dens, the Savoy, Clink, Deadman's Place, Montague Close,
and the Mint. He adds that " this security was abolished
1G96, but lasted in some degree till the reign of George II.
(1727).
I give this only on the authority of the book from which
I take it.
1 Hone's "Every Day Book," vol. i., col. 431.
THE CHURCH FABRIC. 23
At Beverley Minster there is a structure called a " Frith
Stool." This is a stone seat near the altar to which attached'
fehe privilege of sanctuary. From a correspondent to the
Penny Post 1 I gather that this seat, which is rude and
plain in construction, but which I have not seen personally,
has, or had till recently, this inscription : — " Hoc sedes
lapidea freedstoll dicitur — i.e. pads cathedra, ad quam
reus fugiendo pervcniens omnimodum habet securitatem.''
Of course the term " frith, stool " is represented by the bar-
barous word used in the inscription. It is supposed that
a fugitive laying hold of the knockers on the doors men-
tioned above secured them from arrest. A similar knocker
is, I understand, still extant on the western door of Noyon
Cathedral, in the Department of Oise, in Normandy, some
seventy miles N.E. of Paris.
Although, as has been said above, the old privilege of
sanctuary was abolished in 1624, recognised customs die
hard in spite of legal statutes. A curious instance of this
has been mentioned to me by the Rev. C. R. Manning,
Rector of Diss, in Norfolk, who tells me that, in the over-
seer's accounts for the year 1687 in that parish, among the
disbursements of one Samuel Foulger, the following entry
occurs : —
" To the wench Ellenor that laye in the church porch at
several times 00 " 7 " 6."
The Rector adds : " She was no doubt a pauper whom
the overseers lodged in the chamber of the porch. I do
not find any similar entries. There is no tradition on the
subject."
As a curious traditionary usage akin to the above, the
following is of interest, as it brings down the fact of the
church being regarded as a place of general refuge for the
unfortunate to the middle of the present century.
1 Penny Post (1875), p. 195.
24 CHURCH FOLKLORE.
The Rector of West Tofts, Norfolk, referring to a com-
munication of his to Notes and Queries to the effect that
a poor woman, whose relatives had gone to America,
applied to him, as a magistrate, for advice and assistance,
as she and her family had become houseless, and were
obliged to take up their abode in the church porch, tells me
that the privilege had previously been used by a family
living in an adjoining parish, the members of which family
had been ejected from their cottage.
Before the abolition of "sanctuary" in the older and
stricter sense of the term, the church porch seems to have
been regarded as a kind of place of refuge for the destitute.
The Rev. W. E. Torr, formerly Vicar of Flampstead, near
Dunstable, has sent me the following extract from the
Burial Register of that parish : —
" Buriales — ano 1578. On y e xxv lh November buried
Margerye Roadinge, a poor child."
" '52. On the xxvi th November buried Robert Roadinge
lather unto the said childe, which bothe died in y e churche
porche."
The vicar informs me that tradition says " there is a
right of refuge attached to our north porch," but that he
cannot veiify or explain it. It was in the north porch that
the two people above-mentioned died.
As there is in the above extracts some discrepancy as to
the date at which the privilege of " sanctuary " was legally
abolished, I think it well to give the following extract from
" Phillimore's Ecclesiastical Law " for the sake of exactness :
— " By 21 Jac. c. 28, s. 7, it was enacted that no sanctuary,
or privilege of sanctuary, shall be admitted or allowed in
any case." 1
1 P. 1759
THE CHURCH FABRIC. 2$
I may add that in olden days the church porch was often
used as the place for the payment of debts, and other such
like matters, simply because it was a very public place where
there were sure to be witnesses of the transaction. I have
heard of dead bodies being laid in the church porch for
identification, just as they are in the Morgue in Paris.
CHAPTER II.
THE DAILY SERVICES.
From the number of communications which I have received
from all parts of the country in answer to my inquiries, it
is evident that the old custom of separating the sexes when
worshipping in church has prevailed very widely till quite
recent date, and indeed still prevails in certain rural parishes.
The activity which has been shown in church " restoration,"
as it is called, which has taken place during the past forty
or fifty years, has done a great deal towards getting rid of
good old customs. That of dividing the sexes is one of
great antiquity, as it is referred to in the "Apostolical Con-
stitutions " — a document which may be as early as the
second century, and which certainly was not later than the
fourth. According to these constitutions it was the duty
of the deaconesses to attend at the women's gate in the
church, while the door-keepers took charge of that set apart
for the men. According to Bingham (whose reference, by
the way, is in my edition so faulty that I cannot verify it),
St. Chrysostom, at the end of the fourth century, seems to
indicate that in his day the churches were divided into two-
portions by a barrier of wood. In the Eastern Church it
was customary in ancient times for the men to occupy the
ground floor, and for the women to be in the porticos or
galleries above them. It is uncertain whether in the
"Western Church the men or the women were on the north
side of the nave, but tradition is rather in favour of assign-
ing the north side to the women, and the south side to the
men.
26
THE DAILY SERVICES. 27
When noticing" the similarity of principle in this matter
of the division of the sexes during worship, with the
divergence in practice, it is curious to remark that tlie
•same peculiarity prevails in modern times. The instances
which I give, selected from a large number of examples
which have been sent to me by friends, or which have been
gathered from other sources, tend to show that there have
been a great variety of customs in respect to this matter.
"In this part of Essex," wrote the Vicar of Thaxted in
1873, "' the separation of the sexes is almost universal
amongst the poorer classes, and I remember at Little Easton
Church, before its restoration, Lord and Lady Maynatd
each had a large pew on opposite sides of the church, and
they always used each to occupy his or her own pew.''
As far back as 1825, says another correspondent, how
long before I do not know, it was the custom to divide the
sexes in the church of St. Weonard's, Herefordshire. This
was done away with in 1840, or thereabouts.
Next take London. I believe I am right in saying that
in the chapels belonging to the Inns of Court — Lincoln's
Inn, Gray's Inn, and the Temple — the sexes are always
separated. A legal friend tells me that for many years,
beginning about the middle of the century, he used to go
with his father, mother, and sister to Gray's Inn Chapel,
and that they always parted company at the door. He
went with his father to one set of seats, and his mother and
sister to another, generally a gallery.
A gentleman, writing from Warwick, in 1873, says that
at Marston St. Lawrence, in Northamptonshire, the squire
and the males of his family or friends have always occupied
one large family pew, and his wife and daughters and their
lady friends the other. This custom the then squire still
retained when the number was sufficient to justify it, there
being sometimes only himself and his wife.
At Christ Church, Birmingham, it was formerly the rule
28 CHURCH FOLKLORE.
for the sexes to sit apart ; but it was found that in modern
times many families objected to it, and so, in 1860, it was
abolished. But practically the custom still lingered till a
dozen or more years ago, when I was in correspondence
with the vicar. The majority of the men occupied one
side of the nave, and the women the other, though there
was nothing to prevent persons from sitting in what
places they liked downstairs, and, as a matter of fact, the
members of families did sit together.
The old custom at this church gave rise to a humorous
dosrfferel, which ran thus : —
" The churches and chapels we usually find
Are places where men unto women are joined ;
But at Christ Church it seems they are more cruel-hearted,
For men and their wives are brought there to be parted."
Let us go northwards, and Mr. Elwin, who was Curate of
Helmsley, Yorkshire, in 1872, stated that then the division
of the sexes was preserved in a district church there, and
had been customary in the parish church, until it was lost
when the building was reseated about five years previously.
In his letter he noted also a very curious fact, viz. that he
once looked into a dissenting meeting-house near Cam-
bridge, and found that even there the old church custom
had been adopted, and that the men and women sat apart.
That the usage was common in Cambridgeshire the
following incident will show. On one occasion, the curate
of Cottenham, in that county, stopped during his sermon
as some one was talking, and said, " I hear a noise." The
occupant of a seat on the women's side of the church said,
'' Please, sir, it is not us." Curate, " I'm glad to hear it ; it
will be the sooner over." x
At Rye, in Sussex, where, in 1858, there were public
1 Notes mid Queries (September 25, 1880), p. 254.
THE DAILY SERVICES. 29
seats in the " quire," the men took one side, and the women
the other ; but there was no such division in the nave. 1
Another illustration of the principle above referred to
must be mentioned. The Rev. H. M. Fletcher, Rector of
Grasmere, near Ambleside, informed me, a dozen years or
more ago, that one of his then churchwardens remembered
the pride which he felt on the day when, as a boy, he was
allowed for the first time to pass from the women's side of
the church, on which up to that time he had been used to
sit with his mother, to the men's side. In his boyhood the
separation of the sexes in church was sharply defined.
The following instance will recall what was mentioned
above as to the rule laid down in the Apostolical Constitu-
tions.
Formerly it was the custom at Stanton Harcourt Church,
Oxfordshire, for the men to enter by the north transept
door, but the Rev. W. P. Walsh, the vicar, has told me that
this door was walled up in 1845, when the whole of the
church, with the exception of the chancel, was restored by
Dr. Harcourt, the Archbishop of York. The north tran-
sept door was at a considerable distance from the door into
the nave, and had been very little used for some time pre-
viously to its being closed. At St. Mary's, Kidlington, in
the same county, the north doorway, though blocked, was
up to fifty years ago, known as the " bachelors' door." 2
Again, referring to ancient precedents, we find that,
as regards the side, whether north or south, on which the
men and women respectively were accustomed to sit, it
varied in different parishes. Thus, at Marks Tey, in Essex,
in the middle of this century it was the custom for all the
women, excepting those belonging to the rector's family
and some of the large farmers, to sit together on the south
side of the church, apart from the men. Then at Weston-
1 Ecclesiologisb, December, 1858.
2 Ibid., August, 1844.
30' CHURCH FOLKLORE.
birt, Gloucestershire, as the rector has informed me, the
men take the south side of the aisle, and the women the
north side in the body of the church.
The Rev. W. J. Frere tells me that when he was visiting
at Ferring in Essex some twenty or more years ago, the
men sat on the north side and the women on the south side
of the nave. The north aisle was occupied by the two
sexes indiscriminately. The vicarage pew on the north
side of the nave seemed to be the only exception to this
general rule, and on the occasion on which my informant
was present, it happened to be occupied by ladies —
strangers.
" I remember when I was a boy,'' writes Mr. F. K.
Couldery of Abingdon, "a young couple coming into the
church here on a Sunday afternoon and seating themselves
together on the women's side. The man was soon turned
out of his seat by the old verger, with the remark, uttered
in an audible voice, ' We don't have no sweethearting
here.' "
One or two more instances will show that there was no
definite ride as to the position in church which men and
women respectively occupied.
At Morchard Bishop, North Devon, the men took the
north side and the women the south. The same rule held
good at Hawkhurst in Dorsetshire, at Burpham in Sussex,
and at West Wycombe in Buckinghamshire, and probably
at dozens of other places. But then, on the other hand, at
Addlethorpe and Ingoldwold, and numerous other parishes,
the men occupied the south side and the women and girls
the north. Thus it is evident that the principle was main-
tained without there being absolute uniformity in practice.
Of course any number of examples of the kind might be
cited, but those mentioned will be quite sufficient.
A less common arrangement connected with the separa-
tion of men and women in church must be mentioned.
THE DAILY SERVICES. 3 1
Mr. F. H. Dickenson states that in Somersetshire it is
customary for the men to sit in front and the women be-
hind in church. He adds that he has seen a regulation put
forth by a Diocesan Synod ordering this, but that he can-
not lay his hand upon it.
At East Pennard in Somersetshire, the men occupy the
eastern part of the nave and the women the western part. 1
Before the renovation of Ramsay Church, Huntingdon,
the Rev. John Wise, vicar, has told me that the whole of
the nave seats were given up to the poor, the men sitting
on both sides in the more eastern portion and the women
behind them. The same custom prevailed in certain
churches near Daventry in Northamptonshire in 1846, and
perhaps does still. 2 A gentleman, writing in 1873, states
that he in that year witnessed the same arrangement in
Barrington Church, near Cambridge. If necessary, I could
mention other instances. At Bradford- on- Avon the men
used to sit in a gallery, called the " country gallery," and
the women in the body of the church.
There is a very curious arrangement at Durham Cathe-
dral, which Mr. J. T. Fowler says dates from time im-
memorial. Any men who are present in the choir unoffici-
ally occupy any of the stalls which happen to be vacant,
but women have certain pews set apart for them alone be-
hind, and to the east of the stalls.
I will give one more example of the divisions of the sexes
in church, as it introduces a new feature. Some twenty
years ago, the Rev. Alfred N. Bull, late of Woollavington,
Bridsrewater, wrote to a friend as follows: — " I have officiated
in churches where the separation of the sexes was very
striking from all the men wearing the rustic costume of
white smocks, and all the women red cloaks and black
bonnets. The nave of my father's very large church at
1 Notes and Queries (June 7, 1873), p. 466.
2 Ecclesiologist, February, 1846.
2,2 CHURCH FOLKLORE.
Saffron Walden was always filled with red cloaks, the
wearers each bringing a stool from the bottom of the church
for her own use, and taking it back again after service."
Let us nov\ T go on to inquire about another custom which
was common amongst church-goers, viz. that of bowing to
the altar on entering and leaving church. In late years,
this has to a great extent fallen into disuse ; it was, how-
ever, very commonly observed during the last century, and
it still survives here and there amongst ourselves. It need
scarcely be said that bowing to the altar is precisely analo-
gous to the usage of the Peers bowing to the vacant throne
in the House of Lords. It was recommended by Convoca-
tion in 1640. I fancy that in olden times it was more
usual in country places than in towns, though there is
evidence in abundance to show that the practice was ob-
served in certain cathedrals and college chapels.
Thus a writer in the middle of the last century makes a
bitter moan because, " in one of the greatest cathedrals
of this nation, the reader, going to the lectern to read
the lesson, made a sort of obeisance to the altar, but in-
stantly whirling about, made another at least as profound
reverence to the stalls." His complaint was that the same
reverence was shown to the dignitaries as was shown to
God. " Shall," said he, " viri ecclesiastici, as some of them
plainly do, refuse to pay this reverence Domino Deo, et
Altare Ejus, and yet sacrilegiously assume it to themselves ?
Is this our zeal against Popery, to affect the very badge of
Antichrist, who, as God, sitteth in the temple of God V' 1
A later correspondent to the same periodical, and one
who held quite different opinions, scoffs at what he calls
" Altar Worship," and he speaks of it as an ill custom at
cathedrals. 2
1 Gentleman's Magazine, Nov., 1748.
2 Ibid., Feb., 1749.
THE DAILY SERVICES. 33
This " ill custom " is still continued in some of our
cathedral churches. Mr. W. A. J. Miller tells me that at
Carlisle, when the bishop is present at a service, the canons
conduct him to the throne, and the bishop pauses before
going to his seat, and bows first to the altar, and then to
the members of the chapter.
As to the habit of members of our universities making a
reverence to the altar in their college chapels, a few ex-
amples only need be given. The Rev. W. Fairlie Clarke
has told me that at Christ Church, Oxford, the dean and
canons used to stop at the chancel door, and to turn round
to the East and bow as they left the building.
And similarly, at Balliol, which in our day is certainly
not distinguished for any exceptional regard for church
traditions. The Rev. W. AVright, addressing me from
Bournemouth some years ago, wrote : — " My father, who
was elected a Fellow of Balliol in 1784, told me that Dr.
Leigh, who had been head of the college about half a cen-
tury, always observed the custom of bowing to the altar
both on entering and leaving chapel."
In like manner the usas;e was known at Cambridge. Mr.
Ingleby of St. Mary's Hospital, Ilford, has told me that a
friend of his, a very old inhabitant of Cambridge, well
remembered that Dr. Wood, who was master of St. John's
College from 1815 to 1839, always, on entering and leaving
chapel, used to turn round and bow towards the altar.
The Rev. J. Fenton of Ings, Kendal, stated to me that
an old woman who lived in that parish always used to make
a low courtesy to the altar before going to her seat in
church. On referring to her custom one day she said,
" Lord bless you, parson, if my father had seen that we did
not make our reverence he'd a' been vexed for a week.''
Mr. Fenton added that this reminded him of the time when,
as a lad, he went to Langdale Chapel (1827-31), for the old
people all did it there. The above-mentioned old woman,
34 CHURCH FOLKLORE.
as well as others, always courtesied low at the Gloria. The
practice of bowing, my informant says, he himself learnt
from the people of Laxey, in the Isle of Man, where he had
his first curacy in 1849. As to this custom I shall have
something to sa3' lower down.
Bowing, takino- the word in its strict sense, was not the
usage in some places where the principle was carried out.
This the Rev. H. R. Bramley has told me that at Addingham,
Wharfdale, where he was brought up, the men used to
strike their "toppins" or foreheads as they came into
church. My informant has told me, when he inquired
about the custom, that the answer was simply that " it was
the proper thing to do."
Similarly, I learnt from the Vicar of Garton in the Wolds,
from 1850 to 1859, that it was always the custom there for
the women to drop a slight courtesy, and the men to bow
or touch their foreheads, turning towards the East when
they entered church. They imagined that this was an act
of respect to the clergyman, and were quite ignorant of its
real signification. A like unconsciousness affected the
minds of the dwellers at Hilton, in Cleveland, in former
days, when they bowed or courtesied to the reading-desk,
whether occupied or not, before entering their seats. The
Ven. J. Bartholemew, who was archdeacon of Barnstaple,
and died in 1866, always bowed to the altar in his church
at Morchard Bishop, North Devon. He said that he had
learnt it from his father, the Rev. Robert Bartholemew.
In addition to the customary reverence on entering
or leaving church, I am told by a former curate of Skipsea,
Yorkshire, that there the communicants on going to and
coming from the altar always either bowed, plucking their
forelocks, or dropped a courtesy.
As a note illustrative of the custom concerning which I
am now writing, it is well worth while mentioning that the
Rev. E. P. Cole tells me that he has in his possession a
THE DAILY SERVICES. 35
"Companion to the Altar" bound up with a "Book of
Common Prayer " dated 1770, which contains the following
directions for communicants : — " As soon as you conveniently
may, after receiving the cup, if there be a numerous com-
munion, rise from your knees, bow towards the altar, and
retire to your seat."
We have seen how bowing to the East on entering church
has been misunderstood by simple folk who have been in
the habit of practising it. A clergyman, who has the good
sense to enjoy a story which tells against himself, has put
the following on record.
" Nearly forty years ago, i.e. about 1850, I officiated
amongst a simple people on the borders of Worcestershire
and Herefordshire, where the practice of bowing to the
altar was not uncommon ; but to me, a young clergyman
from the neighbourhood of London, it was novel, and I
imagined myself to be the object of reverence. I re-
monstrated with an aged parishioner, who gave me to under-
stand that the reverence was made to the Almighty and
not to a fellow-creature. Her decided manner at the time
is vividly impressed upon my mind. A neighbour, to whom
I recently related the anecdote, remarked that the same
mistake was once made by H.R.H. the late Prince Consort,
and that it met with a similar rebuff. 1
The Rev. J. H. Overton of Legbourne has been good
enough to send me an amusing illustration of the common-
ness of the reverential practice which we are considering.
He tells me of a pamphlet written in 1700, which is very
far from being a High Church publication. It is entitled
" Mrs. Abigail, or a Female Skirmish between the Wife of a
County Squire and the Wife of a D.D." Speaking of the
subserviency of the poorer clergy to those who were at that
time of higher social rank, the following occurs : — " This
little Sir John (the chaplain), always very mannerly, arose
1 Notes and Queries, August 13, 1878.
36 CHURCH FOLKLORE.
at the serving of the second course, and with a bow, as low
as to the altar, took with him the plate he had ate on,"
etc. etc.
Everybody is in the habit of saying some sort of brief
prayer upon taking his place in church, and no doubt some
future writer on " Church Folklore '' will record as an
odd habit of the nineteenth century the custom of men
" smelling their hats " on first entering their seats — a
practice now happily almost obsolete. The Rev. R. H.
Bramley tells me that formerly an old man at Skipton in
Yorkshire used to say his preparatory prayer facing round
in turn to each corner of his pew. Is it possible that this
queer usage was somehow connected with the old familiar
formula ? —
" Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John,
Bless the bed that I lie on ;
Four corners to my bed,
Four angels round me spread.
Two at foot and two at head,
And four to carry me when I'm dead."
Let me ask my readers to go with me a step farther.
Everybody knows that outward expressions of reverence
to inanimate representations of sacred things are by many
in our own day regarded as alien to the spirit of the
Church of England. I am indebted to the Rev. Arthur
Ingleby for the following extract from a treatise against
Popery, by Archbishop Wake, who, previous to his advance-
ment to the Episcopate, had been chaplain to William III.
The paragraph was as follows : —
" When the pictures of God the Father, and of God the
Holy Ghost, so directly contrary to the Second Command-
ment and to St. Paul's doctrine, shall be taken away, and
those of our Saviour and the blessed Saints be, with all
necessary cautions, rendered truly the books, not the snares
THE DAILY SERVICES. 37
of the ignorant, then will we respect the images of our
Saviour and the Blessed Virgin. And as some of us now bow
down towards the altar, and all of us are enjoined to do so
at the name of our Lord Jesus, so will we not fail to testify
all due respect to His representation." x
Another reverential usage which appears to have been
widely spread in former days was that of giving an outward
expression of homage when the verse of the Venite, "
come let us worship and fall down," etc., was recited. It
was formerly the custom for the dean and canons at Dur-
ham to kneel down in their stalls when these words were
sung. 2 Dean Cornwallis, Dr. Durell, and Dr. Prosser used
to do this. Their immediate successors only bowed, and
then the custom disappeared entirely. At St. John's, Edin-
burgh, about 1846, the whole congregation knelt at the
words cited above, and the well-known chant, Purcell in G,
was changed into the minor key for that verse only.
The late Canon Humble of St. Ninian's, Perth, told me
that throughout Scotland old people frequently bow or
courtesy when they come to the verse referred to above. I
fancy that it was mainly a north country custom, for
amongst all the instances which I have collected, only one
relates to the south of England. The Rev. G. Woolcombe
writes that when, in 1854, he was curate of Thorverton, near
Collumpton in North Devon, there was an old woman who
could neither read nor write, and who must have been
ignorant of all ritual matters, who used to courtesy at the
verse in the Venite of which we are speaking.
There are several other parts of the church service where
outward tokens of reverence were wont to be rendered by
the congregation in olden times. For example, a lady at
Swansea has told me that at St. Mary's Church, Brecknock,
1 " Exposition of the Doctrine of the Church of England,'' p. 18.
2 Notes and Queries, 4th Series, vii. , p. 280.
33 CHURCH FOLKLORE.
bowing at the Gloria was formerly the custom of the older
and poorer members of the congregation. Also, that at the
thrice repeated " Holy " in the Te Beum the old women
used to courtesy three times. This, adds my informant, was
continued till within the last thirty years. Again, the
Kev. R Dunn, who was Vicar of Ampney Crucis in Glou-
cestershire from 18GD to 1882, writing twenty years ago,
stated that the old women there courtesy at the Gloria, and
at every mention of the Name of the Three Persons of the
Blessed Trinity. At St. Leonard's, Shoreditch, twenty
years ago, it was customary for most of the old people to
bow at the words, " Thou art the King of Glory, O Christ,"
in the Te Deum. I cannot say whether the practice is still
kept up.
A correspondent, whose name I have unfortunately lost,
wrote to me in 1880 to say that when lie was at Cuddesdon,
the present Bishop of Lincoln, who was chaplain and assis-
tant lecturer there from 1858 to 1863, told hiin that at
Stone, Dartfoid, Kent (so far as my correspondent's memory
served hiin as to the name of the village), it was customary,
when Psalm cl. occurred in the church service, for the whole
of the congregation to say it together.
A few words must be said about turning to the East at
the Creeds. I was told by the late Canon Humble that in
his younger days all the congregations in the city of Durham
observed this practice, and that he believed it was general
throughout the country. In the city it was more notice-
able from the dreadful way in which most churches were
seated. The pews to the east of the desk and pulpit were
arranged so that the people might face the reader or
preacher. Thus the occupants had to turn riodit round.
At Grewell, near Odiham, Hampshire, before the church
was altered, there was a man's gallery at the eastern end of
the nave, the seats facing westwards, and the same custom
prevailed. At Alton, Hants, members of the congregation.
THE DAILY SERVICES. 39
whose seats faced westwards turned to the East at the
Gospel as well as at the Creed. Mr. F. J. Ames, the post-
master at Crondall, tells me that this was discontinued iu
1 859. Probably the church was reseated in that year, and
the whole congregation t'aced East.
All must have noticed that in our churches now almost
everyone bows or courtesies when the Holy Name is men-
tioned in the Creed, but only a few make a " reverence "
when it occurs in other parts of the service when the people
are standing or sitting, as during the hymns and lessons.
Bearing upon this, the Rev. A. G. Loftie says that in
Cumberland it is the custom for every one to bow at the
Holy Name at funerals, at baptisms, and at the Holy Com-
munion when receiving, though they may not do it at any
other time.
The custom of bowing at the Gloria mentioned above
seems to have been very commonly observed in past days,
and the " reverence " usually took place when the word
" Son " was pronounced. In relation to this observance the
Hev. G. Symonds, of Thaxted Vicarage, Essex, has drawn
my attention to a book which enjoyed very considerable
popularity at the beginning of the last century. It was
entitled, " Devotions in the Ancient Way of Offices, Re-
formed by a Person of Quality." The name of " George
Hickes, D.D.,'' appears on the title-page, as editor or sponsor,
I presume, and in 1712 it had reached its fourth edition.
After a direction to say the Psalms standing, it proceeds : —
" At the end of every Psalm let A say ' Glory,' etc., and B
'As it was,' etc., both continuing to stand, and showing
some other sign of worship by bowing the head or lifting
up the eyes to Heaven. For in all devotion the exterior
worship is never to be neglected, and those stiff, morose,
and saturnine votists, who are so sparing of bodily adora-
tion in our most solemn services, refusing to stand at the
singing of psalms and anthems, or to bow to God before
40 CHURCH FOLKLORE.
His holy altar, act against the common notions of mankind
and the nature of divine service."
In some places it was the custom for the congregation to
turn to the East at the Gloria. This was the case at the
old church in Manchester, now the cathedral, and I believe
is still retained. The Rev. L. P. Welland states that at
Talaton Church, near Ottery St. Mary, Devon, it was
formerly the custom for people in church to turn to the
West when the singing began, but to turn to the East at
the doxologies. This usage was dropped through the in-
fluence of a churchwarden, who, in a late rector's time,
attempted to put a stop to the custom of turning to the
West. This was in 1857 or 1858. But his well-meant
action resulted in the people turning to the West as before,
but not turning to the East at the doxologies. Since that
date the church has been repaired, the gallery removed,
and the fiddles and flutes abolished. The organ is at the
west end of the church, but, nevertheless, the people are
gradually leaving off the custom of turning to it.
It is by no means uncommon in our own day for con-
gregations to stand up when the Lord's Prayer occurs in
the Second Lesson, but a lady residing at Bagborough, near
Taunton, has told me that at the old Parish Church there
was a custom for people to kneel on such an occasion.
According to Mr. W. J. Hewitt, this usage was observed in
Exeter Cathedral in years past. 1 In Scotland, as I was in-
formed by the late Canon Humble, in churches of the non-
juring type, the people rise when (a) the Lord's Prayer, (b)
the Scriptural Canticles, and (c) the Angelic Salutation are
read in the Second Lesson. To this I may add a statement
that in Scotland it is a general custom in Episcopalian
churches for the people to stand when the Ten Command-
ments are read in the Lesson for the day. 2
1 Notes anl Queries, June 17, 1854.
3 Ibid.
THE DAILY SERVICES. 4 1
Another out-of-the-way custom may be noted, but I have
only two examples of it, and it was probably not very
commonly observed. This was for the congregation to
kneel at the " Ascription " after the sermon. This was, I
am told, the case at Hexham in former days, and Mr. F. J.
Ames tells me that the custom prevailed at Crondall
Church, Hants, until about the year 18G1.
In well-ordered churches it is now the custom for the
congregation to stand when the clergy and choir come from
the vestry to the stalls. This is doubtless the revival of
an ancient usage, for the Rev. W. Wright has told me that
at Hoby, in Leicestershire, where he was in 1843, it was the
custom for all the congregation to stand up when the offi-
ciating clergyman entered the church. He further stated
that at Marks Tey, in Essex, in 1833, the people always
waited for the rector to precede them in going out of
church.
Akin to this, I learn from Mr. F. K. Couldrey of Abing-
don, that formerly, as he has heard from old parishioners,
ifc was the custom at the Parish Church there for the con-
gregation to rise whenever the Mayor and Corporation
attended the church in their official capacity.
The following note has a thoroughly p re-Reformation
flavour. In the Eccleswlogist of November, 1845, we
read : — " A correspondent assures us that, until very lately,
it was the custom for the people at Stringston in Somer-
setshire to do obeisance to the churchyard cross."
There is, or was, an odd custom at Amptney Crucis,
Cirencester. The Rev. R. Dunn, writing early in the last
decade but one, stated that at the club feast on the Wed-
nesday in Whitsun week, all the members of the club
took of their hats on entering the churchyard, and did not
put them on again after service until they reached the road
outside of the precincts of the church. This was never
done by anyone at any other time.
42 CHURCH FOLKLORE.
Let us now go to consider the question of daily prayers
in our churches in olden times. There can be no
doubt as to the intention of the Church of England in re-
gard to this matter. The words : " The order for morning
and evening prayer daily to be said and used throughout
the year," cannot mean that it is intended to be said on
Sundays only. Nevertheless, except in cathedrals and
college chapels, I think it would be difficult to name a
church in which the rule had been strictly observed since
our present Book of Common Prayer was taken into
general use in 1662 after the last revision. There may be
cases where a special benefaction existed on condition that
daily prayer was said in this or that church ; but, outside
of this, if any one can give me a trustworthy instance of
gratuitous observance of the rubric I will thankfully
acknowledge my error.
It is not a little curious to examine the published
charges and pastoral letters issued by the bishops in the past.
The reproofs and suggestions contained in them give us a
tolerably fair notion of the condition of church matters in
olden times. Amongst other things they show how church -
manship varied in different dioceses. Thus, by way of
instance, in " A Discourse to his Clergy," by Bishop
Sprat of Rochester, in 1695, the recitation of daily service
is taken for granted ; whereas Bishop Turner of Ely, in
1686, told his clergy :— " There is one thing more I do
exceedingly long to see introduced, and would fain obtain
that which the rubrick, in the true intents of it, still exacts
i if you, — to have morning and evening prayer every day of
the week in your church, if you live upon your cure
or keep a curate upon it, and not extreme far from the
church. And if by any means in the world you can prevail
with a few of your parishioners, which, sure, cannot be
wanting in most parishes, where there are some devout
gentry or persons of quality, or at least some piously dis-
THE DAILY SERVICES. 43
posed people ; and to all such I could almost kneel
most earnestly, begging of them, as they love God and their
own and other Christian souls, that they will do their part
towards the promoting of so good a work, perhaps the
best and most publick good they can ever do in the places
where they live; and where there are either poor widows,
who may well afford to be at prayers for those whose pen-
sioners they are ; or where there are any children taught
by a schoolmaster or mistress ; there it is very hard if
some little daily congregation might not be found would
but the minister attempt to labour it with as much appli-
cation and zeal as the thing mightily deserves. Nay,
better, the minister, with or without his parish-clerk, and
with some of his own family, that he may say, ' when two
■or three are gathered together in Thy name,' than not to
begin this worthy design of prayers twice a day in your
churches; but where that cannot be for the distance of
your houses, there to have them without fail in your
private dwelling."
I have given this extract at length, because, if read
between the lines, it supplies some sketchy notion of the
state of our parishes at the end of the seventeenth century ;
but chiefly because it gives expression to the thoroughly
religious sentiments of one of those noble bishops who
refused to take the oath of allegiance to William and Mary,
•and suffered deprivation and poverty rather than do violence
to their consciences.
The urgent expostulation of Bishop Turner does not
seem to have been of much avail, for a very few years later
we find his successor, Bishop Patrick, again speaking
seriously to the clergy in the diocese of Ely with reference
to the same subject. In a charge of his we find him
■appealing to them in the following terms :— " The very
first thing in the Book of Common Prayer deserves to be
seriously considered, where you are enjoined to say daily
44 CHURCH FOLKLORE
the morning and evening prayer, either privately or openly.
It is possible, I am sure, to observe one part of this injunc-
tion, if you cannot observe the other. That is, if you can-
not procure a congregation to meet daily in the church, yet
you may, and therefore ought to read the service of the
Church in your own families, either privately or openly,
not being hindered by sickness or some other urgent cause,
which cannot happen every day."
It is worth noting that it was the " High Church " clergy
who argued in favour of daily services. While Richard
Baxter considered that their recitation was something more
than waste of time — that it was a hindrance to more im-
portant duties — men like Sancroft, Beveridge, and Nelson
were strongly convinced of its importance. There was, of
course, a strong High Church reaction in Queen Anne's
reign, and a very remarkable expression of enthusiasm in
favour of High Church principles was manifested. I do
not know anything more remarkable in post Reformation
history than the record of week-day services which Pater-
son has handed down to us in his " Pietas Londinensis," and
which will be found at the end of this volume. 1 Of course
readers must make allowance for the change of circum-
stances which has taken place. With the exception of
" caretakers " and " housekeepers," there are very few
regular dwellers in the city now, and it is but natural that,
with all our modern church activity, the list given in (say)
the " Tourists' Church Guide " of daily services in the city
now should compare unfavourably with Paterson's record-
But to speak again of the days that are past, it is certain
that, after the overwrought pressure of enthusiasm in
Queen Anne's reign, the daily service dropped more and
more into disuse. Thus Fielding, in "Joseph Andrews,"
published in 1742, relates that, on a certain saint's day,,
1 Appendix I.
THE DAILY SERVICES.
45
there was no one in the church except Paisun Adams, his
wife, the clerk, and a servant.
Wednesday and Friday services remained popular for
some time after the daily service had to a great extent
been given up. Mr. Abbey 1 tells us that Archbishop
Seeker, in a charge delivered by him in 1761, said that
there should always be prayers on those days, and John
Wesley, in 1744, wrote advocating the importance of
observing Wednesday and Friday. By degrees, however,
the number of churches in which prayers' were said publicly
on these days dwindled down.
The Rev. J. H. Overton, in a letter to myself, writes : —
"I find that week-day services, especially on Wednesdays
and Fridays, were more frequent, even in country places,
quite late in the eighteenth century, than is commonly
supposed. For instance, William Cowper first conceived
the desire of making Mr. Unwin's acquaintance from seeing
him every day at the daily services at Huntingdon Church.
This was about the middle of the century. I was also
much surprised to find that William Law, High Church-
man as he was, always had some neighbours to dine with
him on Fridays (the day which I thought would have been
the last he would have chosen for hospitality) ; but I found
his reason was that he thus induced them to go to church
with him at King's Cliffe, where there was always service
on Wednesdays and Fridays, at least as late as 1761.''
No doubt the publication of Robert Nelson's, " Fasts and
Festivals," in 1704, had a great deal to do with the better
observance of the holy days and seasons in the early part
of the last century, and the influence of the book seems to
have continued for a long time. Lent, too, so far as we can
judge, was fairly well observed till the end of the century,
and there are those still living who can remember when it
1 Abbey and Overton : vol. ii., p. 446.
4^ CHURCH FOLKLORE.
was considered the correct thing for ladies to wear mourning
during the forty days' fast.
But we cannot wonder that the lay folk had no very
great regard for prayers alone when so many of the clergy
themselves considered their recitation as fit only for
assistant curates, and quite below the dignity of rectors
and other such exalted personages. Let anyone try to
imagine how things must have been when it was necessary
for a Bishop of Rochester to have said in a public charge
to his clergy, as Sprat did in 1695: — "Wherefore, I sa3 r
again, this very commendable skill of devout and decent
reading of the holy offices of the Church, is so far from
being a superficial or perfunctory work, a mean or vulvar
accomplishment, or a subordinate lower administration only
fit for a curate, that it deserves to be placed among your
ministerial endowments of greater superiority and pie-
eminence." Quite at the beginning of the eighteenth
century, Bishop Bull of St. David's found it necessary to
warn candidates for Holy Orders against an irreverent and
careless recitation of the Church Prayers — a warning, by
the way, which might usefully be given now, as might
also the advice given by Gibson, Bishop of London in 1724,
to candidates for Holy Orders, as to the management of
the voice. As to the charge of which I am speaking, per-
haps the most noteworthy, from our own modern point of
view, is the part devoted to what is called "Psalmody,"
or, as the bishop phrases it, " The Singing Psalms." His
lordship draws attention to the fact that he has provided a
course to serve for sis months in order to help the clergy
in their selection, and he especially begs them not to leave
the choice in the hands of the parish clerk.
It is difficult, if not impossible, to state what Bishop Gibson
meant by "The Singing Psalms," whether " Sternhold and
Hopkins," or "Tate and Brady." The so-called metrical
version of the Psalter which is commonly known as
THE DAILY SERVICES. 47
" Sternliold and Hopkins" seems to have come into use
about 15C2, and to have continued for over two hundred
years. I believe it to be a fact that even so late as 1828 a
new edition of this version was published with the idea of
its being used in churches. That by Tate and Brady was
issued about 1698, but it was far from popular at tirst, and
it took something like a hundred years before it secured
anything like a foothold in the country. Whether it was
an improvement on the " Old Version " — for Tate and
Brady was called the "New Version" — is a matter of opinion.
To the present generation the two versions are equally
unknown, but I can well remember in my younger days
the Tate and Brady Psalms being sung in country churches.
It may be worth while to give an instance of the style in
which the Psalter was rendered by the then Poet Laureate
and his colleague. Let us take by way of example Psalm
xli. 6, which runs thus : — " And if he come to see me he
speaketh vanity, and his heart conceiveth falsehood within
himself, and when he cometh forth he telleth it." This is
made to apply to the scandal that was in those days
commonly supposed to be connected with the conversation
at morning calls — five o'clock teas had not then been in-
vented. Thus : —
" Suppose they formal visits make,
It's all but empty show,
They gather mischief in their hearts,
And vent it where they go."
The teaching was, of course, delightfully direct, but whether
it exactly represented what the Psalmist meant is another
question.
Those who have read Isaac Williams' Autobiography
may remember how he speaks of making acquaintance
with the Parisian Breviary, and of his being especially
48 CHURCH FOLKLORE.
taken with the hymns. This was in 1829. Some of theso
he translated without any idea of publication, but simply
for his own personal edification. In connection with this
he speaks of the " general horror of unauthorised hymns "
which prevailed among church people at that time.
Of course we must take the date of the above extract
into account ; but there is something very funny in the idea
that because by some means or other the " New Version ''
had obtained the privilege of insertion at the end of prayer
books printed in the early part of the century, the doggerel
was "authorised " by the Church. Would any one suppose
that because " Hymns Ancient and Modern " are often
printed at the end of modern prayer books, this collection
of hymns had been " authorised " by any recognised
" authority " of the English Church ? The idea is absurd.
Then as to the music to which these rhymed psalms
were to be sung, the bishop remarks : — " You should en-
deavour to bring your whole congregation, men and women,
young and old, or as many as you can, to sing five or six of
the plainest and best known tunes in a decent, regular, and
uniform manner, so as to be able to bear a part in them in
the public service of the Church.
But what will seem to my modern readers the quaintest
Episcopal suggestion is to come. The bishop goes on to
say : — " Which last advantage of bringing the whole con-
gregation to join in this exercise will be best obtained,
especially in country parishes, by directing the clerk to
read the psalm line by line as they go on, by which means
they who cannot read will yet be able to bear a part in
the singing, and even they who can neither read nor sin^
will receive from the matter of the psalm both instruction
in their duty, and improvement in their devotion." It will
be difficult for young people of the present day to imagine
the possibility of such a barbarous custom as that indicated
above, yet it lasted till a comparatively recent date. I
THE DAILY SERVICES. 49
remember having, as a boj', heard the lines o£ Tate and
Brady given out one by one, and thinking the effect
curious.
In these days we laugh at the idea of such a metrical
version, or rather perversion, of the Psalter being sung in
church, but it ought to be remembered that the well-known
hymn which is introduced into most modern " collections,"
" Through all the changing scenes of life," is simply the
rendering by Tate and Brady of the thirty-fourth psalm.
We are all familiar with "Oh, Lord of Hosts, the mighty
Lord," but few who sing it know that it is merely a
rhyming version of the eighty-fourth psalm, from the pens
of these now despised poetasters.
A good work, however, was done by the introduction of
some hymns at the end of the " New Version." Thus, " To
God be glory, peace on earth," is, I believe, a translation of
an ancient hymn. The favourite Christmas hymn, " While
shepherds watched their flocks by night," was also included,
and at the end of an old prayer book in my possession con-
taining the " New Version," I find Charles Wesley's hymn
with the first line ill-advisedly altered as we see it now in
every collection except " The Peoples' Hymnal." The
author wrote, " Hark how all the welkin rings." Who was
guilty of changing this into the comparatively feeble,
" Hark the herald angels sing," I cannot say.
If with our present habits and experience we could be
thrown back into the past, we should find various other
usages which would appear not only strange, but exceed-
ingly irreverent. So far as I can gather, it was very much
the custom before the reign of Charles I. for men to wear
their hats in church. This was not altogether brought in
by the refugees, who had before this time returned with all
sorts of objectionable ideas contracted from the continental
Protestants with whom they had mingled, but it had been
handed down to post-Reformation people from early times.
50 CHURCH FOLKLORE.
Although this irreverent habit had to a great extent died
out before 1689, when William of Orange came to the
throne the Dutchman brought various reprehensible
foreign customs into this country. Amongst these was
that just mentioned. He gave up the habit when he found
that it caused offence, but though he remained bareheaded
during the prayers, he put his hat on for the sermon.
It may be worth while, in passing, to remind Protestant
teetotalers that it was William of Orange who gave an im-
petus to the distillation and consumption of ardent spirits
in this country, and recommended it in the House of Lords
as a means — by taxation, I presume — of increasing the
revenue. Queen Elizabeth, on the other hand, forbade the
distillation of malt except in small quantities for medicinal
purposes. 1
There is reason to believe that it was no uncommon
thing for ladies of rank to bring their hawks into church,
and to have their pet dogs following them in pre-Reforma-
tion times. It would appear that then the men were wont
to wear their hats, although they generally, but not in-
variably, uncovered at the " Elevation of the Hosts."
Alexander Barclay, " the monk of Ely," in his " Ship of
Fools,'' published in 1509, tells us that some did not con-
descend to even so much reverence as that : —
"And when our Lorde in consecrate in forme of breade,
Thereby walks a knave, his bonet on his head."
Again and again in the Spectator, as Mr. Abbey reminds
us, the irreverence common in Addison's day is severely
commented on. One or two notes will be enough. If a
stranger came to a church to preach it seems to have been
a common thing for the members of the congregation to
make gestures to one another if there happened to be any-
1 Palin's " History," p. 218.
THE DAILY SERVICES. 5 1
thing peculiar about his intonation or style, while the
ladies would giggle behind their fans. 1 Or again, we have
a description of the demeanour of a friend of Will Honey-
comb: — "He seldom comes in till prayers are about half
over, and when he has entered his seat (instead of joining
with the congregation) he devoutly holds his hat before his
face for three or four moments, then bows to all his
acquaintances, sits down, takes a pinch of snuff, and spends
the remaining time in surveying the congregation." Then
again, in the Guardian, Steele, quite at the beginning of
the last century — although, as Mr. Abbey remarks, he was
very indignant at the Examiner having remarked upon
the impropriety of the daughter of the Earl of Nottingham
(who was almost mentioned by name) amusing herself with
knotting in St. James' Chapel during divine service —
reproves, just as the writer in the Spectator had done, the
flirting and jaunty whisperings that often went on in
church. The following passage from the sixth satire in
Young's "Love of Fame," published about the middle of
last century, illustrates this, while reminding us of some of
the delightful photographic pictures of character which
William Law, some twenty years before, had given in his
" Serious Call " :—
" Lavinia is polite, but not profane ;
To church as constant as to Drury Lane,
She decently in form pays Heaven its due,
And makes a civil visit to her pew.
Her lifted fan, to give a solemn air,
Conceals her face, which passes for a prayer,
Courtsies to courtsies then with grace succeed,
Not one the fair omits but at the Creed."
1 Anyone going now into the American church in the Avenue de
l'Alma, Paris, will see Japanese fans lying about in the seats along-
side of the soft sofa cushions with which the occupants furnish their
pews.
52 CHURCH FOLKLORE.
The satire contained in the last line must not be missed.
A great deal more might be related as to the irreverent
conduct of some church-goers in days of old, but it is not a
pleasant subject to dwell upon, although it is necessary in
a volume like this to say something about it.
CHAPTER III.
THE HOLY COMMUNION.
It can scarcely be doubted that it was the original inten-
tion that the pre-Reformation custom of a daily celebration
of the Holy Eucharist should be continued in the English
Church after she had freed herself from the shackles of
Rome. The fact that the Collect, Epistle, and Gospel, which
belong only to the Eucharistic office, were to serve for the
whole week seems decisive on this point. The words at
the end of the Preface in the Prayer Book are as follows : —
" Note also that the Collect, Epistle, and Gospel appointed
for the Sunday shall serve all the week after, where it is
not in the Book otherwise ordered." This is in thorough
accord with the rubric in the first prayer book of Edward
VI., where we have — " In cathedral churches and other
places where there is daily Communion, it be sufficient to
read this exhortation above written (the long one in the
Communion service) once a month. And in parish churches
upon week days it may be left unsaid." This practice may
have been more or less kept up during the five years of
Edward's life, as also with the re-introduction of Popery
under Mary. The real wrench came with the return of the
Marian exiles, when Elizabeth came to the throne in 1558.
The flood of Protestantism and irreverence which they
brought back with them from the Continent must, under
the very abnormal condition of things, have had a most
baneful influence, and have done much to hinder customs
which were really Catholic. Let anyone try to imagine
what the religious mind of the country could have been
when it was possible for Scambler, who was Bishop of
S3
o
54 CHURCH FOLKLORE.
Peterborough from 1561 to 1585, to lay down a rule that a
day should be set apart quarterly for general Communion
—that there should be two Communions, one at five for
servants and officers, with a sermon of an hour, to end at
eight ; the other for masters and dames, to begin at nine
the same day, with like sermon, and to end at twelve. 1
But there were bishops of a higher type than Scambler,
bad as were the times. Overall was consecrated at the be-
ginning of the following century, and Cosin became Bishop
of Durham in 1660. Dealing with the question of the pro-
priety of a daily Eucharist, Bishop Cosin says, "Better
were it to endure the absence of the people than for the
minister to neglect the usual and daily sacrifice of the
Church by which all people, whether they be there or no,
reap so much benefit. And this was the opinion of my
lord and master, Dr. Overall. 2
And here comes in a curious fact as regards the difference
of ideas entertained by really good men as to the frequency
with which the Holy Eucharist ought to be celebrated.
George Herbert, in his " Country Parson," published in 1632,
says:—" The parson celebrates it (the Holy Eucharist), if not
duly once a month, yet at least five or six times in the year>
as at Easter, Christmas, and Whitsuntide, afore and after har-
vest, and at the beginning of Lent." To us it seems very odd,
if we read this paragraph to the end, for the writer goes on
to say : — " And this he doth not only for the benefit of the
work, but also for the discharge of the churchwardens,
who being to present all that receive not thrice a year, if
there be but three Communions, neither can the people so
order their affairs as to receive just at those times, nor the
churchwardens so well take notice who receive thrice, and
who not." 3
1 Jeafferson's "Book of the Clergy," vol. ii., p. 33.
3 Quoted by J. H. Blunt.
3 Chapter xxii.
THE HOLY COMMUNION. 55
The following item seems even more strange if we take
into account the date when Bishop Andrewes died (1626),
and his well-known devotional habits when living. Bishop
Buckridge of Rochester preached the funeral sermon for
his brother of Winchester, in which the following passage
occurs : — " He was Dr. Andrewes in the schools ; Bishop
Andrewes in the diocese ; and Saint Andrewes in the closet.
After he had an Episcopal house with a chapel, he kept
monthly Communions inviolably, though he had received
at court the same month." Mr. Benham, in commenting
upon these words, says in his " History of the Diocese of
Winchester : " — x " This is from his funeral sermon by Bishop
Buckridge, or one would imagine some mistake. But the
obvious intention of the Church to observe weekly Com-
munion seems to have been greatly neglected all through
the seventeenth century. A General Winsor left the interest
of £100 to two churches in Southampton to defray the
expenses of a monthly Communion. In 1718 there were
only eleven churches in London where there was a weekly
celebration." 2
As I remarked above, good men who lived in bad times
greatly regretted the decadence of the custom of which
I am treating. Mr. Abbey writes : — '' Bull, Sherlock,
Beveridge, and other Anglican divines, who belonged more
to the seventeenth than to the eighteenth century, had
expressed much concern at the infrequency of celebrations.
of the Eucharist as compared with a former age. ' Now/
said Beveridge, ' people have so far departed from primitive
usage that they think once a week is too often.' ... In
1741 w T e find Seeker admonishing the clergy of the diocese
of Oxford that they were bound to administer thrice in the
iS. P. O.K., p. 187.
2 At the present clay in the city of London there is a weekly cele-
bration in twenty-eight churches ; in nine there are two celebrations,
each Sunday, and in eighteen a celebration on holy days as well.
56 CHURCH FOLKLORE.
year, that there ought to be an administration during the
long interval between Whitsuntide and Christmas. 'And if,'
he adds somewhat dubiously, ' you can afterwards advance
from a quarterly Communion to a monthly one, I make no
doubt but you will.' . . . But Bishop Tomline might well
feel it a matter for just complaints that, being at St. Paul's
on Easter Day, 1800, in that vast and noble cathedral no
more than six persons were found at the Table of the
Lord." i
As regards details in connection with the Eucharistic
service, a fact must have struck those who have looked into
the matter as being odd. I do not remember to have met
with an instance of the " chasuble " being mentioned in
the seventeenth century as a distinctive altar vestment in
use. Everybody knows that large numbers of the higher
class of churchmen in their writings asserted the legality of
the ornaments rubric, but as regards actual practical use
the cope only is mentioned. There is only one way that
I can see by which this can be explained, and that is by
the presumption that in those days the term " cope " was
used to signify the altar vestment as well as that which
was employed at procession and lower church functions —
in other words that the " cope " included the chasuble.
As regards the cope, properly so called, it would appear
that copes were widely used before the Restoration, but to
a considerable extent abandoned after that event. They
were, however, retained at Durham, Westminster, and
Norwich until nearly the end of the last century. But
since their general abandonment, I believe that on great
occasions, such as coronations, they have always been worn
at Westminster Abbey.
As a striking instance of the retention of an old principle
long after the actual practice had died out, I may mention
that the late Major Fortescue, of Alveston Manor, Stratford-
1 Abbey and Overton : vol. ii., pp. 477-79.
THE HOLY COMMUMOX. 57
on-Avon, told me that his grandfather, who was a clergy-
man, always wore full dress under his surplice whenever
he celebrated the Holy Eucharist.
Akin to this, I well remember a remark which was made
to me some five and twenty years ago by the widow of Sir
Charles Bell, of Bridgwater treatise fame. As a very old
lady she came to live in Albany Street, Regents Park, and
attended St. Mary Magdalene's Church, Munster Square.
The use of the Eucharistic vestments was quite new to her,
and she asked me to explain their meaning. This I did,
and she at once said : — <; I understand the principle exactly;
you put on court dress to go into the Presence." It is im-
possible to conceive a briefer or truer definition.
Everybody knows that the first rubric before the office
for Holy Communion in the Prayer Book directs that " So
many as intend to be partakers of the Holy Communion
shall signify their names to the curate, at least some time
the day before. 1 ' With church discipline so slack as it has
been and still is in England, it is scarcely to be expected
that this rule should ever have been generally observed.
Yet a contributor to Notes and Queries states that at
Bitton, in Gloucestershire, two parishioners, who were
natives of Lincolnshire, used always to give this notice.
It may be that in the latter county the custom has to some
slight extent survived.
The custom of people communicating fasting is one
which, wherever it may have existed, has evidently been
handed down from remote times. There are plenty of in-
stances of this practice to be had, dating from the last
century. Thus the clergyman of a Berkshire parish states
that, in 1863, an old woman parishioner told him that her
mother never communicated except fasting. Another
clergyman, speaking of those who had lived at Liskeard in
Cornwall, states that thereabout, in the days of his grand-
father, it was the general, though not the universal, custom,
58 CHURCH FOLKLORE.
both by rich and poor. Similarly this was known to be the
case at Leek in Staffordshire. Speaking of an old woman,
aged 83, who was preparing for her first Communion, the
clergyman of her parish states that she asked whether she
ought not to receive it fasting, and he adds that every time
afterwards she was careful to observe the same reverential
practice. Going up to the northern counties, the Rector of
Winestead, Hull, lias told me that people still living can
remember the custom observed there, and it must be noted
that in the days referred to there were, as a rule, only late,
i.e. mid-day, celebrations. Another clergyman, verging
upon 70, has assured me that his great-grandmother
was very particular about fasting before reception, and
that she was also strict in her observance of the Church's
fast days. He added that if she was on a visit at a friend's-
house she would never, save under very urgent necessity,
go beyond the garden before she had been to church. This
is akin to the custom which still prevails in many parts of
England, of a woman, after her confinement, abstaining
from appearing in public until she has been to church to
return thanks for her safe delivery. The late Dean of
Brechin, who was an old man twenty years ago, stated
that his mother invariably received the Holy Communion
fasting, and would have considered it very it reverent not
to do so. These few individual instances, drawn from
different parts of the country, taken almost at bap-hazard
from a large number of others which have been sent to
me, show how the ancient reverential custom continued to
be observed by religious people long before its revival
under the so-called Tractarian movement.
The question as to how far daily, weekly, and early
celebrations of the Holy Communion have been practised
in England in post-Reformation times is one which must be
of the highest interest. Upon this matter I am glad to-
avail myself of a valuable letter from the pen of Mr. F. C.
THE HOLY COMMUNION. 59
S. Warren, which appeared in the Church Times of August
24th, 1S88. He says :—
" There is, I think, no evidence whatever of any constant
daily celebration between the Reformation and the present
time. Wimborne Minster has been mentioned as such an
instance, and I was once referred to Hutchin's ' Dorset ' as
an authority: but Hutchin's (ii. 549) contains nothing of
the kind ; and the Rev. L. Lester, now Rector of Langton
Maltravers, late priest-vicar of the Minster, informed me
some years ago that the fact could not be established.
One case can be found, in the latter half of the seventeenth
century, of a daily celebration lasting for a time in London ;
but it was quite exceptional, and seems indeed to have
been quasi-private. The celebrant was Edward Stephens,
first a barrister, then a priest ; he began, before his ordina-
tion, by procuring in the country parish of his residence a
monthly and then a weekly celebration, which he says was
rarely then (soon after the Restoration) 'anywhere else in
the nation above once or twice, or thrice at most, in the
year' He then went on in London hy bringing together
a band of daily communicants, with a priest whom he says
he had ' brought off from the Dissenters,' and here they
used a Liturgy of his own composition. After a year their
chaplain was laid by, as it seems, through ill-health, and
Stephens then took holy orders himself. What his title
was, or who ordained him, we are not told, though, if it
was the Bishop of London, it must, I think, have been
Compton. He continued the daily celebration for nearly
three years, and then gave it up. He printed his Liturgy
in 1696, and it was republished in Hale's ' Fragmenta
Liturgica,' vol. ii., 1848. See the preface to that work,
also the Christian Remembrancer, July, 1854, p. 207.
"Most of the visitation articles (dating 1563-1728)
published by the Ritual Commissioners inquire whether
60 CHURCH FOLKLORE.
the Holy Communion is celebrated 'duly once a month,'
and the solitary mention of a weekly celebration is by the
well-known Bishop Montagu of Norwich, 1638.
'•In 1633 Dr. Henry Hammond, Rector of Penshurst,
restores a monthly celebration in his church ('Life before
Works')
"In 1680 Dean Granville of Durham, son-in-law of
Bishop Cosin, says 'the celebration of the Holy Communion
every Sunday at the least is not observed in more than
two cathedrals, and two or three chapels in all England.'
(Remains published by the Surtees Society, I860).
"In 1714 Paterson's Pietas Londinensis gives a list,
quoted in Stephens' 'Common Prayer with Notes,' i. 317, of
the services in 151 London churches and chapels. The
Holy Communion was celebrated monthly, at least, in all
but two of these ; in one twice a month, in eleven weekly,
and in one more weekly from Easter to Trinity; in ten
there were early celebrations, of which ten two were thrice
a month, one twice, three once, two on great festivals, one
on holy days, the remaining one being at Whitehall Chapel,
where it is called ' private ' as against the ' public ' late one.
There are several cases of two celebrations on great
festivals, and one of daily celebration in their octave, four
of celebration on Good Friday.
"In Professor Sedgwick's privately printed history of
1 lis father's parish of Dent, Yorkshire, he inentions an early
Easter celebration at the end of the last century, and
lasting far into this. There was another in 1836 at Meifod,
Montgomeryshire, where the father of Dr. Rowland
Williams was vicar.
"In 1793 Mr. Beste, afterwards a Roman Catholic,
speaks in a university sermon on Priestly Absolution of
' those four days in the year on which the Lord's Supper is
administered in our parochial churches ;' and as late as
1853 the present Bishop of Carlisle, in the preface to his
THE HOLY COMMUNION. 6 1
Eucharistic sermons, speaks of ' the commonly rare celebra-
tion in the great majority of parishes.'
" The first daily celebration in modern times I believe to
have been begun by Mr. Prynne of St. Peter's, Plymouth,
about 1850 ; an early celebration was begun by Mr. Wilson
of Islington about 1828, and an evening one by Dr. Hook
about 1844. My authority for these two latter strange
facts (of which the second was probably alluded to by
'ExulV Irish D.D.) is a letter in the Guardian of 7th
July, 1886. See also a letter in Williams' 'Life of
Suckling,' about 1845, p. 17."
I learn from the Rev. S. C. Baker that an ancient
custom of having a celebration at six o'clock on Christmas
morning is kept up at Usk in Monmouthshire. The
country people come in from distant parts of the parish to
this early service, and some communicate who do not at
other times. It is called "Pwlgwm" in Usk, in other
places "Plygain." Some say the former word means "cock-
crowing," and the latter "early day" in some old form of
Welsh.
The Church of St. George the Martyr, Bloomsbury, was
built in the reign of Queen Anne. The rector states that
ever since it was opened the Holy Communion has been
celebrated every Sunday after the Mattin's service.
The Rev. J. T. Fowler tells me that it has been an im-
memorial custom at Ripon Minster to have an early celebra-
tion on Easter Day, but on no other day in the year.
Ripon was a very large parish, and in mediaeval times the
dwellers in outlying chapelries were expected to receive
their Easter Communion at the Minster.
There have been certain peculiar usages connected with
the act of communicating kept up in some places to within
living memory, and which, perhaps, still survive here and
there. A few examples may be given.
62 CHURCH FOLKLORE.
An old Orial man tells me that when he was at Oxford
in 1864, it was the habit for as many undergraduates as
sufficed to fill the altar rail to take their places there just
before the short exhortation in the office was recited.
Again, the Rev. W. F. Clements states, that at St. James',
Isle of Grain, Kent, at the words, " Ye that do truly," etc.,
the communicants left their seats, went into the chancel
and knelt down there, the men on the north and the women
on the south side, and remained there until the priest came
to communicate them. A similar custom prevailed at
Wannington in Northamptonshire, at least as late as 1845.
This usage, with certain slight differences of detail, was
very common in all parts of the country. A clergyman
has told me that at Skipsea in Yorkshire, in 1856, they not
only did this, but the remainder of the congregation, the
children excepted, stayed in the church till the end of the
service. This latter fact is interesting as indicating a sur-
vival of the ancient custom of non-communicating attend-
ance at the Eucharistic service. At Christ Church, Oxford,
up to 185G, it was the custom for the communicants to
remain in their seats while the officiants walked round to
communicate each. Dr. Pusey frequently administered in
this way.
The Rev. R. Noble Jackson, Vicar of Winchcombe, Glou-
cestershire writes : — " When I first came here, in 1871, the
altar table retained the old Puritan arrangement, surrounded
on north, east, and south by a kind of pew back with a
ledge thereon (facing in each case outwards) for books, and
with seats ranged along the wall, and matting at the back
to keep the damp off the clothes. In front were painted
railings where the common people knelt to receive the
Sacrament, while the quality occupied the seats around.
Somewhat akin to this was the arrangement in the chancel
at Leonard Stanby, Gloucestershire. A former curate of
the parish tells me that up to 1866 it was the custom to
THE HOLY COMMUNION. 63
administer the Holy Communion inside of a square formed
on three sides by high-backed ' settles,' on the seats of
which the communicants knelt. A more usual arrange-
ment was to have the rails round the three sides of the
altar which were available for communicants. Up to about
1850 this was the case at Fenny Compton in Warwickshire,
for instance ; but hundreds of other examples could easily
be cited. Indeed, it is only worth mentioning as being an
arrangement which, if it has not already died out, will do
so in the course of a generation or two, and all remembrance
of it be lost."
In some places it was the custom for the sexes to com-
municate separately. Let me take as examples three
parishes fairly remote from one another. This was, and
perhaps still is, the usage at Churchdown, between Glou-
cester and Cheltenham, 1 and a lady friend tells me that it
prevailed in 1850 at Bekesbourne in East Kent. Here the
women went up first. Going northwards to Nassington
Church, Northamptonshire, we should find, I believe, to the
present day, that as soon as the priest has communicated,
the women approach for reception. The men do not leave
their seats till every woman has returned.
At Swanage in Dorsetshire there was a different usage.
It was the custom there for twelve of the oldest men who
were communicants to go up together to the altar before
the rest of the people. The rector has told me that this
continued until about 1860.
And as I am now speaking of the act of communicating,
this will be the place to mention a fact stated in the
Gentleman's Magazine of February, 1732. It is there
recorded that one Hallam was executed at Tyburn for the
murder of his wife. " Hallam denied the flinging of Lis
wife out of the window, and took the Sacrament upon it
1 Notes and Qtieries, September 30, 1871.
64 CHURCH FOLKLORE.
under the gallows." A curious question arises here. Did
the priest celebrate "under tbe gallows," or was the Sacra-
ment reserved and taken there ?
I am told that in Monmouthshire and Glamorganshire
it was the custom for all those present to kneel through the
whole of the Communion service. This was also the case
in certain parts of Herefordshire, as at St. Weonard's and
Michael Church. In the former of these two parishes, up
to about 1834, Holy Communion was celebrated only four
times a year, Easter, and its octave, Low Sunday, being two
of them. This is curious, as it shows a desire on the part
of the clergy to carry out the directions of the Prayer
Book, that every parishioner should communicate at Easter.
They at least gave him an opportunity of doing so.
A clergyman informs me that he understands that in
former days the whole congregation at Vale Church,
Guernsey, used to communicate, as a matter of course,
when there was a celebration. The question naturally
arises, whether this was not a quasi-survival of the old
custom of all persons attending Mass ?
At the present day, as everybody knows, it is the custom
of communicants, when receiving the chalice, to take merely
a tiny sip from it ; but this seems not to have been the case
in times gone by. As an illustration of this, it may be
mentioned that the plate in Minsterley Church, Shrews-
bury, consists of two large flagons, two chalices, each
capable of holding about three pints, and two patens, all
inscribed, "The gift of the Right Honourable y e Lady
Thynne, Anno Dom. 1691." If full, there would be room
in the vessels for ten pints at least, and the church was
built only as a private chapel to the hall, and is still a
chapelry in Westbury parish. It will hold about two
hundred people, and there were probably never more than
twenty communicants. More will be said about this matter
later on.
THE HOLY COMMUNION. 65
In treating of the various old-fashioned usages con-
nected with the Eucharistic office, I have not found it
convenient to adhere to the order of the service, but as this
book does not profess to be a connected treatise, but is
merely a collection of notes, the lack of strict sequence is a
matter of little importance. The few items which have
yet to be added can easily be arranged in a more orderly
fashion.
First, as regards the altar arrangements in the Channel
Islands in years gone by. There seems to have been no
decent table or altar for Holy Communion in most of the
churches of Jersey, even as late as the middle of the
present century. At St. Heliers, for instance, the " Oyster
board was kept in the porch, and only brought in on Com-
munion Sundays." In Guernsey matters were somewhat
better. Each church had a place set apart for the holy
table, though that place was not always in the chancel.
Sometimes it was at the east end of a chancel aisle, and in
one case in the chancel, but westwards of a block of pews. 1
Then as to the eastward position. Although, no doubt,
in the earlier part of the present century, the custom in
nearly every church was for the officiant to stand at the
north end of the altar, there were exceptions to this. A
clergyman writes to me to say that the Rev. W. Hepton of
Bishops Frome adopted the eastward position during the
Consecration Prayer throughout his priestly life up to the
time of the Purchas judgment, when he abandoned it.
When asked, he replied that he did it simply because he
thought it was the meaning of the rubric. This clergy-
man was ordained priest in 1826.
At Foy, in the county of Hereford, the eastward position
was the rule sixty years ago certainly, how much longer
I cannot say.
Again, at Weston Beggard Church in the same county,
1 Ecclesiologist, ix. 176, x. 73.
E
•66 CHURCH FOLKLORE.
the altar is railed round on three sides so as to leave
scarcely any room for a priest to squeeze himself between
the north end and the rail, and it has been customary for
the incumbent to officiate " before the table " without any
thought or suspicion of Ritualism. I am speaking now of
fifty years ago. Further, I learn that at Ings, near Kendal,
the altar was so arranged in 1773, that only the eastward
position was possible.
The office of "server" has survived longer than most
people imagine. Up to a few yeats ago at Lower Sapey
Church in Worcestershire, when the clergyman left the
reading-desk at the end of the morning prayer, and took
up his position at the altar, it was the custom for the
clerk also to go within the rails. 1 - A similar custom is
reported by the Rev. F. G. Lee, who states that up to 1840
or thereabouts, the habit of the clerk taking his place
with the priest at the altar existed in many churches in
Oxfordshire and Buckinghamshire. He knelt either with-
in or without the rails, and in some cases wore a surplice. 2
In the Guardian of May 31st, 1876, certain items are
given showing that a like custom prevailed formerly in
the north of England.
Thirty or forty years ago (wrote Mr. Bowman in 1876)
it was usual in the Bristol churches for the men to stand
during the Communion service till the reading of the
Epistle, and the children in one of the endowed schools in
the city (the Red Maids) are still taught to do the same. 3
A gentleman at Bampton, where there is a very fine
cruciform church, has told me that it is the custom there
for the minister during the Communion office to leave the
altar, after having read the Epistle, and go westwards
down the church until he reaches the easternmost of the
1 Notes and Queries, May 1, 1880.
2 Ibid., June 26, 1880.
Ibid., August 26, 1876.
THE HOLY COMMUNION. 67
arches which support the tower (standing at the junction
of the arms of the Cross), and from this spot he reads the
Gospel and Nicene Creed ; he then goes further on to the
westernmost of the tower arches, and gives out whatever
notices there may be. This is probably a quasi-survival of
the ancient usage of reading the Gospel from the rood
loft.
As the sermon, according to the Prayer Book, is to be
preached during the Communion office, this seems the
place to note a peculiar usage in relation to it. At Church-
down, Gloucestershire, already mentioned, it was customary
up to 1871, and may be still, for the male labourers to
stand during the sermon. 1
We now come to the offertory, and the way of collecting
the offerings of communicants in days gone by.
In the village of Stretton, Rutland, writes "Cuthbert
Bede," it has been the custom from time immemorial, and is
still the custom, for every communicant to place a silver
piece of money in the alms basin. However poor the com-
municants may be, yet a threepenny or fourpenny piece is
obtained by changing coppers for that express purpose at
the village shop.
And similarly at Over, Cambridgeshire, if one should say
to a poor person, " Give a penny if you can't give more,"
the answer often was, " Oh, we don't give coppers here ;
they do at Swavesey (the next parish), but no one does
here." At extraordinary collections not in connection with
the Holy Communion coppers are given freely. 2
The parishioners at Crosby Ravensworth in Westmore-
land do not seem to have been so scrupulous, for I under-
stand that there the alms of the Holy Communion are
sometimes called " Oblation Brass."
According to a clergyman who has written to me, the
J Notes and Queries, September 30, 1871.
? Ibid., December 6, 1873.
a
68 CHURCH FOLKLORE.
Dublin people do not seem to be particularly generous at
the offertory, or, at any rate, were not years back. He
says that when he first knew the Dublin churches, the
people sat down after the Nicene Creed, and whilst a
voluntary was being played a collection was made, and the
general rule was for everyone, rich and poor alike, to give
a penny. The alms were generally gathered in battered
silver plates, taken up to the altar rails, and piled up six
or seven high on the holy table.
Until about the year 1855, the clergy at Ings, Kendal,
were wise in their generation, and had the collection before
the sermon, so as to catch the whole of the congregation,
because as soon as the sermon was over those who were not
intending to communicate left the church. The gathering
was made while the clergyman was in the vestry changing
his surplice for the black gown.
The Rev. J. Roach, writing from Clifton, says that
in 1861 to 1865 (presumably whilst he was at college)
the alms at Holy Communion at St. John's College,
Cambridge, were not collected, but a large silver alms dish
was placed on the rails, and each man went up and made
his offering, and knelt for a short prayer.
I believe that the custom now to be mentioned was not
at all uncommon in country places in days gone by. Mr.
J. T. Micklethwaite, F.S.A., tells me that he remembers at
Helpringham in Lincolnshire, within the last fifteen years,
seeing the communicants all enter the chancel at the offer-
tory, and drop their contributions to the collection into the
plate held by a churchwarden at the screen door as they
went in.
As to the counting the offertory money, a friend has sent
me an extract from Bishop Lloyd's (additional) statutes for
Lichfield Cathedral, 1693.
" Gap. 8 De Oblatis, etc. The consecrating priest, or if
THE HOLY COMMUNION. 69
the bishop be the consecrator, he who ministers the chalice,
shall, before his departure from the Lord's Table, count
the money given at the offertory and commit it to the care
and keeping of the sacristan or sub-sacristan," etc. etc.
At the Ecclesiastical Art Exhibition held during the
Rhyl Church Congress in 1891, a Sanctus Bell was ex-
hibited by the Rev. B. M. Jones, Rector of Llanfair-Dyffrin,
Clwyd, Ruthin. It is dated 1723. There is a tradition
that, up to the beginning of the present century, this bell
was removed from the parish chest and placed on the altar
step by the churchwardens and taken back after the ser-
vice. It was not rung.
Let us pass a step onwards in the service. In all well-
ordered churches it is now the custom for the choir to
sing, " O Lamb of God, that taketh away the sins of the
world," etc., before the consecration prayer, and " Blessed is
He that cometh in the name of the Lord," etc., after it.
Although this was ordered by the rubric in the first Prayer
Book of Edward VI., the use now of these words is by most
regarded as quite a modern introduction of a practice which
had entirely died out. This is not the case. The Rev. W.
F. Clements, writing from Birmingham in 1873, stated that,
when staying in Wiltshire, an old man, over eighty years of
age, told him that, when he was a boy, the congregation at
the church which he frequented always used to repeat these
words. There must be many similar instances, but this is
the only one which I am able to cite.
And then as to the Mixed Chalice. The late Canon
Humble stated that, in some of the old congregations in
Scotland, the celebrant, in making the mixture, which was
done publicly in all churches of the older type, used to say,
and still in some places continues to say : — " And one of the
soldiers with a spear pierced His side, and thence came
there out blood and water."
70 CHURCH FOLKLORE.
Taking into account the attitude which the Wesleyan
Methodists assume in relation to the church, a former
curate of Caunton, Nottinghamshire, has stated that the
Methodists in that village, a very small and pious body>
retain the old custom of not having their meetings at such
times as clash with the church services, " and some of them
are our most regular communicants. There is one old man
of eighty-four who regularly communicates on Sunday at
8.30, goes to the meeting-house, which is close by, at 9.30,
and after that creeps off home. He used to come to
mattins and preaching at 11, but now he cannot manage it."
More striking still is a statement which appears in the
Gentleman's Magazine of October, 1736, in an account
giveu of one, Thomas Wright, citizen of London, who died,
aged sixty-one : — " Though an Independent, and a member
of Mr. Howe's congregation, he was a strict monthly com-
municant of the Church of England."
Perhaps some of my readers will be surprised to learn
that the " Houselling Cloth," as an " ornament " of the
church, is still '' retained and in use '' in not a few places.
Let us take Wimborne Minster, Dorsetshire, first. It is the
custom there for the communicants to kneel at long, low
tables covered with white linen which stand along the top
step of the chancel. Tradition says that, before the tables
were put there, a long strip of linen was held before the
communicants by two deacons, but the tables have been
there for the last two hundred years ; they are never
moved, and are always covered with white linen.
I may notice in passing that in the churchwarden's
accounts of St. Margaret's, Westminster, in 1599, the fol-
lowing appears : —
" Item. Paid for a long diaper cloth to make two towels
for the communicants, 12s. 8d."
THE HOLY COMMUNION. "jl
Some years ago the Vicar of Holyrood, Southampton,
wrote to say that the Houselling Cloth was still used there
at the celebration of the Holy Communion. He found it in
use when he went there, and retained it as a relic of old
times. There is no doubt, he thinks, that the custom is a
very old one, as his two predecessors covered pretty nearly
a century between them. His immediate predecessor (Dr.
Wilson) was not one at all disposed to introduce new
fashions, and his vicariate began in 1824.
In the Ecclesiologist of February, 1859, is a letter from a.
clergyman, in which he says : — " I was called upon to-day in
an official capacity to administer Communion to a consider-
able number of old alms-folk in a church in the very
heart of the city of London. . . . One poor old woman
from Bristol who communicated, when she knelt at the
altar step, deliberately spread her white, or rather yellow-
white, pocket handkerchief along the rail before communi-
cating."
This fact lends some colour to the suggestion made by
Mr. Cousins in his " Exeter Fifty Years Since," the second
edition of svhich appeared in 1878, that the clean white
pocket handkerchief which old-fashioned people used fc>
carry round their prayer books was a survival of the old
Housel Cloth.
At the Parish Church of St. Germans, Cornwall, the rails
are covered with white hangings on Communion Sundays,
and this has been done time out of mind. The popular
idea there is that it is to prevent the dresses of the squire's
ladies from being soiled ! *
A few other places where the Housel Cloth is, or till
lately has been in use, may be mentioned. The list is in
no sense intended to be even approximately exhaustive,
but merely embraces examples which I have gathered from
1 Notes and Queries (1858), p. 444.
72 CHURCH FOLKLORE.
well accredited published sources, or which have been sup-
plied to me by private correspondents.
At the Parish Church at Leamington clean white napkins
are placed along the altar rails every Sunday in the year.
Whenever there is to be a celebration the altar rails at
Sway ford Church, Lincolnshire, are covered with a long
linen cloth, as also at St. Mary's Thame, Oxfordshire, up to
1841. This is still observed at St. Mary's (the University
Church), Oxford. 1 A like custom was observed up to 1861
or 1862 at Westhide, a chapelry of Stoke Edith, Hereford.
At St. Peter's, Hereford, this was the case up to 1874, and
may still be continued. At Holmer, and at Mordiford, in
the same country, persons still living can remember the
custom. It had been followed from time immemorial in
the Parish Church at Henslow, Huish, Langport, until the
building was '' restored " in 1872, when for some cause or
another the usage was given up ; but at St. Bride's Major,
a parish in Glamorgan, the practice of placing white linen
hangings on the altar rails on Communion Sundays is still
observed.
It is generally taken for granted that the Housel Cloth,
where used, was always of white linen, but this, it would
seem, was not the case. A Stockton clergyman told me
some ten years ago, that five years previously he was at
Bolam in Northumberland and he saw the vicar's housemaid
preparing the altar for the monthly celebration. Part of
her work consisted in tying on to the stone altar rails a
cloth of the same colour as the altar cloth (blue), so as to
hang down on both sides. The late vicar had only recently
died. He was an " Evangelical," and had held the benefice
since 1817.
From a communication by the Rev. H. T. Ellacombe to
1 Notes and Queries, October 17, December 26, 1874.
THE HOLY COMMUNION. 73
Notes and Queries?- we learn that " from time immemorial
the Gloria in Excelsis has been sung in Exeter Cathedral
every Sunday, and on Christmas Day and Ascension Day.
The ten chorister boys are arranged outside the outermost
altar rail, for there are two, one near the table, the other
at some distance, and within these the communicants are
assembled, and the sacred elements are administered to
each by the officiating priests going to them. After the
service, the boys close the procession of clergymen, each
party filing off to their own respective vestries. But when
the bishop is present, the boys precede and arrange them-
selves in a line on their knees in one of the side aisles
where the bishop passes on his way out of the cathedral,
and each receives his blessing."
One more curious usage in connection with the Holy
Communion must be mentioned, viz. that of giving metal
tokens to the communicants. I learned from the late
Canon Humble that in Scotland the old way of securing
the Church from unfit communicants was by means of a
token which used to be given by the pastor during the
week to the intending communicant. These were collected
by the clerk as the communicants approached the altar.
This still continues in a few congregations. The custom was
derived from Presbyterian sources, for it still is in use
among them, though people are beginning to think it
vulgar, and it is gradually dying out. Few people, how-
ever, are aware that instances of a similar custom in the
Church of England are on record. Thus, Communion
tokens were given at St. Saviour's, Southwark, in 1G27,
and at Henley on Thames in 1G39. 2
1 Notes and Queries (1856) p. 143.
2 Ibid., ses. 2, ti ; 432.
CHAPTER IV.
BAPTISMAL CUSTOMS.
So far as my researches have gone, I have come across^
fewer out-of-the-way customs connected with the sacrament
of Holy Baptism than might have been expected ; but
such as I have found shall be recorded.
To begin with Ireland. In the wild parish of Ballintoy,
County Antrim, I understand that there used to be almost
a struggle, on the occasion of a baptism, to obtain the
first water, the child who was first baptised being con-
sidered likely to be most lucky afterwards. It was also
usual to sew up in the infant's clothes a large oat-cake.
This, on the return home, formed, with whisky, the
christening feast.
In Burt's " Letters from a Gentleman in the North of
Scotland to his Friend in London," published in 1754, the fol-
lowing barbarous custom is related, which, though not exactly
belonging to Church Folklore, may be worth mentioning.
" The moment a child is born it is plunged into cold water,
though it should be necessary first to break the ice. At
the christening, the father holds it up before the pulpit,
and receives a long extemporary admonition concerning
its education." 1 This is carrying out the principle of the
survival of the fittest to rather an extreme length. Scotch-
men have always had the character of being physically
tough, and no wonder, if they live through this discipline.
The idea formerly prevailed amongst Lincolnshire folk
1 Gentleman's Magazine (1754), p. 370.
74
BAPTISMAL CUSTOMS. 75
that if a child be born with its hands open it was an
indication of liberality and benevolence, but if its hands
be closed, the child when it grows up will assuredly prove
a churl. When an infant is first taken to a neighbour's
house it is presented with egyjs, the emblem of abundance,
and with salt, the symbol of friendship. As to the christen-
ing, it is the belief of some very simple people, that unless
the child cries during the office it will not live. This silly
credulousness occasions some poor infants to suffer con-
siderable torture, for their barbarous nurses do not hesitate
to pinch their tender flesh, or to prick them with pins to
excite the wished-for evidence of their longevity. 1
A lady at Rugeley, writing in 1874, says that, " At Lyme
Regis in Dorsetshire the church is built on a hill, conse-
quently there are steps all up the aisle. The baptising is
at the lower end of the church. Immediately after naming
the children the clergyman takes the child last christened,
and the godmothers and nurses follow with the other
children up the steps, where he receives them into the
church.
Trine affusion is more common at the present day than it
was in the earlier part of the century. It is interesting to
know that there were at least some clergymen a hundred
years ago who knew how to baptise properly. The Rev. E.
Symonds states that his father, when baptising a child, and
pouring water upon it only once, was told by an old
Devonshire clergyman ordained in the last century, who
was present, that when he was ordained it was always the
custom to pour the water over the child's face three times.
A veiy odd custom has been related to me by the
authoress of " The Heir of Redcliffe.'' " I have seen," she
says, " a cottager's tenth child christened with a sprig of
myrtle in its cap to mark it as a tithe child ; and I have
heard of the Rector of Compton recognising such a tithe
3 Gentleman's Magazine (1832), part ii., p. 493.
76 CHURCH FOLKLORE.
child, and sending him to school. I think the custom is
dropped."
Strange names are sometimes given to infants, but it
would, I think, be difficult to find one more strange than
that about to be mentioned.
It appears that in the parish of Winchcombe, Gloucester-
shire, there is a farm called " Almsbury." In ] 747 a child
was left by some vagrants in one of the fields of the farm.
Some pigs attacked the babe, but the little one was de-
fended by a clog, which drove the pigs away, and the child
was, for the time being, saved. In the Parish Register of
Winchcombe the following entries are found : —
"Sept. 8, 1747. Susanna Smith Buried, and Cunozoa
Almsbury Baptized. This child was exposed and preserved
by dogs which defended it from the swine.
"Oct. 10. Cunozoa Almsbury Bur<l."
Those who wish to see what very odd names have some-
times been given to children must turn to the end of this
volume. In Appendix II. they will find a collection such
as, I believe, has never before been published.
In many parts of Surrey, when several children are
brought to be baptised at the same time, it is the custom of
the clerk to take care that the males be presented first, for
it is thought that if the girls were to take precedence the
boys would grow up beardless. 1 This idea formerly pre-
vailed in the north of England, and the custom of giving
the boy babies precedence continued at Newcastle-on-Tyne
down to 1S63 at the least. 2 At Harrietsham in Kent,
however, though the same custom is followed, the reason
given for it is slightly different. The people there say that
1 Notes and Queries, Oct. 21, 1854.
2 Ibid., May 31, 1877.
BAPTISMAL CUSTOMS. "]J
if the girls were to be baptised before the boys they would
have hair on their faces when they grew up.
Another odd custom prevailed in the North. When a
child was taken to church to be christened, a little boy was
engaged to meet the infant on its leaving the house, because
it was deemed an unlucky omen to encounter a female first.
For this service the boy received a small present of a cake
and cheese wrapped in paper. 1
Mr. Henderson gives us a description of a somewhat
similar usage, stating that at Durham it is the custom (1879)
at a baptism for the nurse to take a piece of cake and cheese
to church, which is given to the first person of the opposite
sex to the child met on leaving the church. A like custom
exists in Somersetshire, and in Cornwall, and did lately
about Dartmoor. 2
As bearing this out by personal experience, we have Mr.
J. W. Thomas, Dewsbury, stating, in 1853, that when riding
some years since in the eastern part of Cornwall he met a
christening party, also on horseback, headed by a nurse
with a baby in her arms. Making a halt as he approached
her, she stopped him, and producing a cake, insisted upon
his taking it. Several years afterwards, in the Isle of Man,
an old person told him that it had been customary, within
the speaker's recollection, for a woman when carrying a
child to be christened to take with her a piece of bread
and cheese to give to the first person she met, for the
purpose of saving the child from witchcraft, or the fairies. 3
In Northumberland, , Mr. Henderson tells us, it is the
custom to make the christened child sleep the first night in
the cap he wore at baptism. At the beginning of the
present century the earliest possible baptism was regarded
as essential to the health of the infant.
1 Gentleman's Magazine (1822), part ii., p. 13.
2 " Folklore of the Northern Counties," p. 12.
8 Notes and Queries, December 24, 1853.
78 CHURCH FOLKLORE.
Formerly a cloth was kept in families for use at
christenings, and called in Dorsetshire a " Christening
Palm." One about five feet long and a little less broad of
crimson satin eda^ed with silver lace is mentioned in Notes
and Queries. The same thing is called in Devonshire a
" Christening Pane." 1
A gentleman, writing from Beaminster, gives the follow-
ing list of christening ornaments provided about the end of
the seventeenth century, and now in his possession.
1. A lined white figured satin cap.
i. A lined white satin cap embroidered with sprays of
gold coloured silk.
3. A white satin palm embroidered to match. Size 44
inches by 34 inches.
4. A pair of dress cuffs, white satin, similarly em-
broidered, trimmed with lace, evidently intended tu
be worn by the bearer of the infant.
5. A pair of linen gloves or mittens for the baby,
trimmed with narrow lace, the back of the fingers
lined with coloured figured silk.
6. A palm, 54 inches by 48 inches, of rich stiff yellow
silk lined with white satin.
The writer of the above adds that the palm or pall was
not in use only for the baptism of an infant ; but certainly
as late as forty years ago, the wrapper (often of fine muslin
and lace) in which the child was brought down to see
company was so called. 2
Mr. Henderson says that "much importance attaches to a
baby's first visit to another house, on which occasion it
should receive three things : an egg, salt, and white bread
or cake. The egg, a sacred emblem from the remotest
1 Notes and Queries, April 10, 1875.
"Ibid., August 14, 1875.
BAPTISMAL CUSTOMS. 79
antiquity, and the cake and salt things used alike in Pagan
and Jewish sacrifices (Lev. ii. 13). Somewhat grotesquely
they add in the East Riding of Yorkshire a fourth thing —
a few matches to light the child on its way to Leaven.
These votive offerings must be pinned in the baby's clothes,
and so brought home. I have heard of an old woman in
Durham speak of this as the child receiving alms. " He
could not claim them before he was baptised," she said,
" but now he is a Christian, and has a right to ask alms of
his fellow Christians." Near Leeds this ceremony is called
" puddening." 1
At Wakefield this custom is called " blessing," and a piece
of silver is always added to the other gifts. The usage
prevails in Lancashire, Durham, Yorkshire, and Lincoln-
shire.
On November 5th, 1848, there was a meeting of the
Archaeological Institute, at which Mr. F. A. Carrington,
Recorder of Woodstock, read notices of certain customs
prevalent in Monmouthshire and South Wales. He said
that when a mother died shortly after child-birth the
infant had been baptised on her coffin at the funeral. This
is said to have been done at Monmouth in 1814. The
custom was unknown there when Mr. Carrington read his
paper, but was occasionally used in certain parts of the
Principality, the baptismal water being sometimes placed
on the coffin instead of in the font, and the baptism per-
formed in the church porch, or even in the house of the
parents before the removal of the corpse. 2
Here is a personal experience by one formerly well
known in London — the late Dr. A. B. Evans, Rector of St.
Mary-le-Strand. He stated that, when officiating at a
church iu Herefordshire, he was sent for to baptise the
child of a woman who had died shortly after its birth. On
1 "Folklore of the Northern Counties," p, 20
2 Archaeological Journal, vol. xvi, p. 88.
8o CHURCH FOLKLORE.
preparing to perform the office, he was told that the custom
was to baptise the child, under such circumstances, over the
dead body of the mother. Not wishing to contravene their
custom, he was conducted to the room where the coffined
body lay, and baptised the child, holding it over the re-
mains of the mother.
To speak now about Baptism by Immersion, concerning
which I have a few memoranda.
One of the queerest arguments in favour of it that I
know is in a letter from Sir John Floyer to Mr. King of
Bungay, cited in the Gentleman's Magazine of April, 1734,
recommending cold bathing. Hence he advocates the
dipping of children in baptism, which, he says, has been
practised at Lichfield and elsewhere with good effect.
Why the water in the font should of necessity be cold
does not appear. No one with any sense would dip a
baby in cold water, one would think, unless it were a
Scotch baby, and just newly born ! 1
When the Church of St. John's, Torquay, was built,
under the supervision of Mr. G. E. Street, R.A., and a sunk
pit made at the west end of the nave for adult baptisms by
immersion, many people thought that such an arrangement
had never been seen before. They were wrong. The Rev.
F. A. Carr, when Vicar of Cranbrook, Kent, wrote as
follows : — " We have a curious font for the baptism of
adults by immersion, which I believe to be unique. It is a
small well, seven feet deep, built against the south wall by
a celebrated Vicar of Cranbrook, in the early part of the
last century, viz. by John Johnson, the author of the
" Unbloody Sacrifice," the " Vade Mecum," etc.
There was, and may be still, in the Church of St.
Laurence, Reading, a baptistry under some of the pews.
Some years ago, a family of Quakers, desiring to be ad-
i See p. 74.
BAPTISMAL CUSTOMS. 8 1
mitted into the Church by baptism by immersion, the pews
were removed, the baptistry filled with water, and the con-
verts immersed. 1
In the Church of Trevethin, Monmouthshire, there is a
baptistry for purposes of immersion ; as also in the com-
paratively new Church of St. Mary, Aberdare.
Some ten or more years ago, the late Canon Cadman of
Holy Trinity, Marylebone, well known in his day as a very
pious Low Churchman, very kindly sent me, in conse-
quence of my request, the following description of an adult
baptism which he celebrated in that church, but, unfor-
tunately, he did not mention in what year it took place : —
" The parents of a young woman had delayed her bap-
tism, and when I became acquainted with them, I found
that they entertained, in common with their daughter,
strong opinions in favour of immersion. I did all I could
to show them that the ■mode was not so important as they
thought, but at length pointed out to them that the Church
did not object, in certain cases, to baptism by immersion.
After obtaining the bishop's consent, I procured a large
bath or tank (or, rather, had one constructed for the pur-
pose) with steps outside and inside. Placing it by the
font, I had it filled with water, and at a certain portion of
the service, the young person, with her parents and wit-
nesses, came forward.
" When the time for immersion came, I commended her
to the silent prayers of the congregation, while she retired
to the vestry to undress, and to put on a suitable flannel
robe. Coming forth with her mother, I took her right
hand, led her up the outside steps of the bath, directed her
to descend into the water, and standing by the outside of
the bath, and placing one arm under her head, I baptised
her by immersion, in the sacred name of the Trinity. She
1 Notes and Queries, October 27, 1886.
82 CHURCH FOLKLORE.
then retired again to the vestry. There was again prayer-
ful silence, and when she came again into the congregation
in her usual dress, the service was concluded.
" A very solemn feeling prevailed. Prejudices were ex-
cited in some quarters, but removed by explanations, and I
think that much good resulted — certainly adherence to our
Church instead of alienations from it. In the course of
twenty years we have had three such cases."
All this was very nice, of course, but I cannot see why
Mr. Cadman should have made such a fuss about it. Con-
sidering the rubric in the office for the baptism of infants,
which makes " affusion " the permissible form of baptism
in case the child is too weakly to be dipped, the idea of
asking the bishop to sanction the immersion of a grown-up
person, who herself desired it, is beyond my comprehension.
But I have been brought up with old-fashioned ideas, and
prefer the traditions of the Church, and the ordering of
the rubrics, to the ipse dixit of individual bishops, who, of
course, have no right to override either of these very plain
guides in order to have their own private tastes and fancies
carried out..
" Within the last three months," writes J. W. Batchelor
from Odiham, Hants, " I have known two clergymen bap-
tising in rivers in Wales, the question being left to the
choice of the candidate." 1
In the time of the Commonwealth public baptism fell
into almost total disuse, and private baptism became the
rule. Good men who were in authority mourned over this,
but it was very long ere they could get the rule of the
church obeyed. Bishop Bull, who presided over the diocese
of St. David's from 1705 to 1710.. in a charge to his clergy,
has the following : — " The Church strictly requires that it
1 Notes aiid Queries, Nov. 17, 1866.
BAPTISMAL CUSTOMS. 83.
(baptism) be performed publicly in the House of God, not
in private houses, except in case of real necessity, as when
a child is weak, and cannot, without endangering itself, be
brought to church. But notwithstanding this strict order
of our Church, in most places in this country, baptism is
altogether administered in private houses, and scarce any,
if any, baptised in church. If this may be allowed, away
with the fonts in your churches. What do they signify ?
To what purpose are they there ? If all the authority
I am invested with can do it, I will see this lamentable
abuse of the sacrament of baptism reformed."
The probability is that, apart from the natural tendency
of people to carelessness and irreverence, a Puritanical dis-
like to the sign of the cross and to sponsors was to a great
extent the cause of the disuse of public baptism, for accord-
ing to the office in the Prayer Book, a child could be bap-
tised privately without either the one or the other. It is
most likely that the scandal of charging fees for baptism
grew out of the habit of having children privately baptised,
in which case a gift of money to the clergyman for the
trouble of attending at a private house at a certain hour
might not seem unreasonable. Whether this demand
still exists in any parish, I know not ; but, as we are
aware, it was discontinued only a few years ago at St.
George's, Hanover Square, in consequence of the agitation
of some earnest churchmen.
It may be well to note that the Act 35 and 36 Vict., c. 36,
renders it unlawful to demand . any fee or reward for the
celebration of the sacrament of baptism, or for the registry
thereof. Some clergymen, especially those in remote
parishes, may not be aware of this.
It is not generally known that, in 1783, it was enacted
that there should be a stamp duty of threepence on every
baptism registered. This is, I believe, recorded in the
Register of St. John's, Clerkenwell. The Act imposing it
84 CHURCH FOLKLORE.
was repealed in 1794 See more about this in the section
on Marriage Customs.
In the last century it was customary with people of
fashion to have negroes as men servants and pages. It is
evident that even in the eighteenth century, when the
Church of England is supposed to have been at her lowest
ebb, some pains were taken by masters and mistresses in
seeing after the spiritual welfare of their dependents. An
extract from the Baptismal Register of St. John's, West-
minster, will serve to illustrate this : —
" 1730. April 2. — John Chaffinch, a blackamoor, 16 years of
age ; baptised by Mr. Moore. No money.
1731. Oct. 11. — Sanders Dover, a blackamoor boy, aged 13.
1733. Jan. 10. — John Brown, a blackamoor.
1760. Sept. 5. — John James, an adult black.
1772. Feb. 5. — Andrew Clarke, a mulatto of riper years.
1773. Sept. 1. — John Johnson, an adult blackamoore;
Sarah Johnson, an adult blackamoor.
1786. Feb. 10. — JamesMurrayClaris,an adult blackamoor."
A somewhat curious idea prevails in the East Riding of
Yorkshire, viz. that if a woman who is about to become a
mother were to act as godmother at a baptism, the child
for which she stood would soon die.
Hitherto in this volume the order in which the several
offices come in the Prayer Book has determined the order
of the subjects dealt with. It seems, however, convenient
here to depart from our rule, and to treat of one or two
customs in regard to the rite of
THE CHURCHING OF WOMEN,
after having spoken of those which are connected with
baptism. But before this is done it may be well to in-
BAPTISMAL CUSTOMS. 85
quire what were the sentiments of the better class of the
clergy about this rite two hundred years ago, when it was
by no means unusual for the churching service to be said
in private houses.
Dean Comber in his " Companion to the Temple," pub-
lished in 1674, says, 1 " With us in England custom only
seems to determine the time to be a full month, and our
rubric prudently says no more, but that it shall be done at
the usual time. And that we may give no countenance to
the Jewish opinion of their uncleanness, we admit them to
the Church before any prayers be said for them. And in
most places they come up to the steps of the altar, that be-
ing the proper place to offer the sacrifice of praise, and to
remind them of their duty in receiving the Sacrament
either then, or at the first opportunity. The woman only
goes to the altar, but everyone present has a fresh occasion
to exercise his most serious meditations. ... To do tins
(i.e. to church women) in a private house is as contrary to
the end as it is to the name of this office. If the women
will not do their duty the priest must do his, i.e. refuse to
go to their private houses, which hath been decreed in a
late council, viz. that the priest do not go to the woman's
house to make the accustomed prayer there ; no, not
though she be so weak as not to be able to come to church
And the reason hereof is evident, because she may stay till
she is stronger. She is not obliged to come at a certain
time, but only so soon as she is able.
" The last rubric intimates two things. First, she must
offer the usual oblations to the priest, viz. the chrysom or
alb thrown over the child at christening, and some small
offering to him that ministers, which are not requitals, but
only acknowledgments of her gratitude to the Church.
Besides which those women who are able ought to give
some considerable sum of money to the poor upon every
1 Introduction, part iv.
•86 CHURCH FOLKLORE.
such deliverance as a testimony of their real sense of God's
mercy shown to them. Secondly, that she either do now,
or as soon as can be, receive the Holy Sacrament, which
these woinen always did in the Greek and iEthiopic
•Churches, and, it seems, in this very Church above a thou-
sand years ago. And still we carry them up to the altar
to mind them of their duty ; and doubtless the omission of
it occasions the too soon forgetting of His mercy, and the
sudden falling off from piety which we see in too many." x
The words in the rubric requiring the woman to come
" decently apparelled " require explanation. In the seven-
teenth century it was not thought becoming that on such
,an occasion a woman should wear her ordinary head-dress,
and instances might be quoted of clergymen refusing to
" church " women who came without the customary " vaile."
It is evident that in some parishes this was provided by the
church, for in an inventory of church goods belonging to
St. Benet's, Gracechurch Street, in 1560, there is " A
Churching Cloth, fringed, White Damask."
We must inquire what is meant by the '' convenient place,"
which, according to the rubric, the woman is to occupy.
The principle, of course, is that the place shall in some
way symbolise the fact that the woman is now in a position
to resume those Church privileges from which for a time
she has been debarred. In pre- Reformation times she was
to be at the church door — a most improper place, one
would think, for a woman who was out for the first time
after her confinement. In the first book of Edward VI. her
position was to be " nigh unto the quire door." In the
second book of Edward VI. she was to be " nigh unto the
place where the Table standeth." But during the past three
hundred years the custom has varied. Mr. J. H. Blunt
quotes Bishop Wren's orders for the Diocese of Norwich, in
1636. " That women to be churched come and kneel at a
1 Part iv., sec. 6.
BAPTISMAL CUSTOMS. 87
side near the Communion Table, without the rail, being
veiled according to the custom, and not covered with a hat ;
or otherwise not to be churched, but presented at the next
generals by the minister, or churchwardens, or any of
them." In Bishop Brian Duppa's Visitation Articles in the
Chichester Diocese, in 1638, there is an inquiry similar in
substance to the above. " Doth he (the priest) go into the
chancel, the woman also repairing thither, kneeling as near
the Communion Table as may be ; and if there be a Com-
munion, doth she communicate in acknowledgment of the
great blessing received by her safe delivery ? Doth the
woman who is to be churched use the accustomed habit
in such cases with a white veil or kerchief upon her
head ? " x
In some churches, more especially I believe in Lincoln-
shire, there was a pew or open seat, which was known as
the " churching seat."
The feeling that women ought not to leave their own
house or garden before they have been to church is very
widely spread. The Rev. W. T. Frere says, that this was
strictly observed when he was at Rugeley. In Hereford-
shire it was not considered " correct " for the husband to
appear in church on the day of his wife's churching, at all
events in the same pew with her. An antiquary of the
county considered this a relic of Roman Paganism, con-
nected with the worship of the Bona Dea. 2
In Devonshire, I am told, some people call being churched
being " uprose." I shall never forget (says my informant)
the bewilderment of a strange clergyman, who had taken a
baptism in a parish church in that county, when the clerk
followed him into the vestry with the mysterious announce-
ment, " Her wants to be uprose."
"At Legbourne," writes the Rev. J. H. Overton, "and I
1 " Annotated Prayer Book," p. 305.
2 Notes and Queries, March 27, 1852.
88 CHURCH FOLKLORE.
think at other Lincolnshire villages, women look upon
their churching with an almost superstitious regard. I had
a curious instance when I first came here, in 1860. I at
once tried to knock on the head the custom of having
baptisms after the service, and on one occasion when I
told a woman who came to be churched and to have her
child baptised, that the baptism would take place after the
second lesson, she replied, ' That is impossible, for I can-
not walk down the church until I have been churched.'
The churching service used to be read just before the
general thanksgiving, so I overcame the scruple by having
the churching service before the general service began."
The idea of registering churchings would scarcely ever
occur to a clergyman now, but as a matter of fact such
entries do exist. In the Parish Church Register at Preston,
Lancashire, in the early part of the seventeenth century,
there is a record of the churching of women. 1 Similar
entries are found in the last page of a volume of Sidmouth
Parish Registers, and also at Staplehurst. 2
Much more stress was laid by the bishops in the last
century upon the importance of
CATECHISING
than is generally supposed. In charge after charge we
find this duty pressed upon the clergy. There is, however,
reason to believe that in many parishes it was only prac-
tised during Lent. The Rev. G. W. Cole, when at Ely, in
1873, stated that an old woman named Mary Loweiy, whom
he buried the previous year, aged 91, remembered being
catechised in church when a child.
A lady at Torquay has told me that about 1830, at
1 Notes and Queries, October 21, 1865.
2 Ibid., November 18, 1865.
BAPTISMAL CUSTOMS. 89
Morchard Bishop, the children from different districts in
the parish assembled in church occasionally during the
summer months to say their catechism. They were sum-
moned by a notice given out by the clerk from the singing
gallery. The Rev. Edgar Hoskins remembers that on
every Sunday afternoon in Lent the collegers at Eton were
catechised during even-song in the college chapel. This
was from 1844 to 1849.
CHAPTEE V.
MARRIAGE CUSTOMS.
It can be readily believed that a great variety of local
customs have clustered round such an interesting event as
marriage. Some of these I propose to describe in the pre-
sent chapter.
Most persons know that in pre-Reformation days there
■were certain restrictions as to the seasons when, according
to church order, marriages ought not to be solemnised, but
comparatively few are aware that the same rule was main-
tained after English churchmen had shaken themselves
free from the imposed trammels of the Papacy. I need
not go back to the canons issued in the early ages of
Christianity on this subject. It will suffice to say that,
according to the Sarum Missal, which as an old Church of
England authority should be regarded as our legitimate
guide in such a matter, the following are mentioned as the
prohibited seasons. From Advent Sunday until the octave
of the Epiphany ; from Septuagesima until the octave of
Easter ; and from Rogation Sunday until six days after
Pentecost. The late Mr. J. H. Blunt, in his " Annotated
Prayer Book," tells us that a Latin notice of this kind
appears in the register book of Dymchurch in Kent, and a
rhyming English one to the same effect in the church of St.
Mary's, Beverley, dated November 25th, 1641. In the
church at Wimbish in Essex a note appears as regards the
season during which marriage is prohibited by the Church,
and a similar entry is in the register book of Hornby in
Yorkshire. In his charge of 1750, Archbishop Sharp
90
MARRIAGE CUSTOMS. 9 1
mentions these prohibited times ; and they are set down as
matters of general information in some of the almanacs of
the last century. Bishops and archdeacons in the seven-
teenth century were in the habit of inquiring at their
visitations whether any have married in the times wherein
marriage is by law restrained without lawful licence.
Reference may be made to Bishop Andrewes' Articles,
Winchester, 1619 and 1625 ; to Bishop Cosin's in the East
Riding, 1627; and to Bishop Montague's at Norwich, 1638. 1
On the fly-leaf of the register at Everton, Notts, the
following doggerel appears : —
" Advent marriage doth deny,
But Hilary gives thee liberty ;
Septuagesima says thee nay ;
Eight days from Easter says you may ;
Rogation bids thee to contain,
But Trinity sets thee free again."
In East Anglia there exists an old saying : —
" Marry in Lent,
And you'll live to repent.''
It was also regarded as unlucky for a woman to marry a
in whose surna
Hence we have :-
man whose surname began with the same letter as her own.
" To; change the name and not the letter,
Is a change for the worse, and not for the better.''
The publication of banns before marriage is a very
-ancient custom, and dates back to the Lateran Council in
1139. Three publications are required by the canons of
Westminster in 1200, and on three Sundays or festivals,
\Notes and Queries (1857), p. 97.
92 CHURCH FOLKLORE.
distinct from each other, by Reynold's Constitutions in
1322. The term " banns " is derived from a word signifying
to proclaim, whence comes also the word " banner," which
emblem signifies the publication of the purpose of the pro-
cession in which it is exhibited. It is perhaps worth while',,
in passing, to draw attention to the strictness of English
Church Law in respect to this matter. It is laid down in
canon 62, that no minister, upon pain of suspension, per
triennium ipso facto, shall celebrate matrimony between
any persons without a faculty or licence granted by some
of the persons in these our constitutions expressed, except
the banns of matrimony have been first published thre&
several Sundays or holy days, in the time of divine service,
in the parish churches or chapels where the said parties
dwell, according to the Book of Common Prayer.
Of course the publication of banns in church was in-
tended to prevent clandestine marriages. But Thomas-
Comber, D.D., in his " Companion to the Temple," pub-
lished in 1688, says this : — " The time of publication engages
the whole congregation to pray for a blessing upon the
parties to be joined, it being the custom in these parts of
England, upon this publication, for all the people to say,.
' God speed them well.' " The words, " these parts of Eng-
land," evidently signify Yorkshire, as Comber was appointed
precentor of York in 1683, and did not become Dean of
Durham till 1691.
The congratulatory exclamation referred to by Dean
Comber was formerly by no means uncommon ; but it was
used in various ways. Thus, at Cromhall in Gloucester-
shire the words were said only after the publication of the
banns for the last time. The custom prevailed until quite
recently in some parts of Lincolnshire, 1 and at Laceby in.
that county the bells ring out at the end of the service
after the third " asking." The " God speed 'em well " was.
1 Notes and Queries, December 27, 18T9.
MARRIAGE CUSTOMS. 93
in use at Thornton Steward in the North Riding of York-
shire up to 1871, and at Patrick Brompton in the same
Riding up to 1866. * Judging from a letter from Horace
Walpole to Mr. Conway, May 22nd, 1753, the publication of
banns was considered by fashionable people as degrading.
It was, I fancy, with reference to a Fleet marriage that
Walpole wrote as follows : — " It is well that you are
married. How would my Lady Aylesbury have liked to
be asked in a parish church for three Sundays running ?
I really believe she would have worn her weeds for ever,
rather than have passed through so impudent a ceremony."
I may mention here that well within my own memory
those who ranked as gentlefolks were almost always mar-
ried by licence, and it was regarded as infra dig. to be
" asked " publicly in church. It is now, as we know, com-
mon for gentle and simple alike to have their " banns put
up," and this change is one very greatly for the better.
But to return to the congratulatory exclamation men-
tioned above. As an example of how good old usages will
die out, and thus to a certain extent justify the publication
•of this volume, I may state that at Tealby in Lincolnshire,
some fifty years ago, the clerk always used to say " God
speed them well " after the publication of the banns. This
man died, and his successor discontinued the use of the
words, although the squire of the parish begged that the
custom should be retained. It has never been resumed.
A slightly different usage from this I may mention. The
Rev. T. Robinson of Ewshot, Hants, tells me that when he
was at Eyam in Derbyshire, some thirty or more years
ago, the oldest man in the congregation, and not the clerk,
was accustomed to pronounce this formula.
Another clergyman writes to say that the words of joy-
wishing were sometimes used in the course of the marriage
service. When he was appointed to the curacy of the
1 Notes and Queries, September 25, 1880.
94 CHURCH FOLKLORE.
Parish Church of Windermere, in 1863, and was about to
take a wedding for the first time, the clerk, who was a
well-known character in the lake district, begged him to
make a pause when he got to the words, " Or else for ever
hereafter hold his peace," " because," said he, '' I have some-
thing to say." The clergyman made the desired pause, and
the clerk at once added, "God speed them well." The
rationale of this is evident. The priest is directed to chal-
lenge those present to come forward and forbid the
marriage, and the clerk, as representing the congregation
officially, says in effect that not only do the people urge no
impediment, but rather wish the couple "God speed."
The clerk used to call this " blessing the couple," and
regarded it as an immemorial custom. At the clerk's
death it was discontinued.
At Hope, near Sheffield, a somewhat different usage pre-
vailed, and is, perhaps, still continued. The words expres-
sive of good-will, pronounced by the clerk in a high key,
followed immediately upon the act of the clergyman in
joining the hands of the bride and bridegroom, saying,
" Those whom God hath joined together let no man put
asunder."
There was a curious custom at Norham, in the diocese of
Durham, which possibly still exists. If the banns are
twice published and the marriage does not take place, the
refusing party, whether the man or the woman, pays forty
shilling's to the vicar for " scorning the Church."
The Rev. J. H. Overton tells me that at Legbourne
Church in Lincolnshire it is the custom to ring a peal of
bells immediately after the service, when a couple have
been " asked " in church for the last time.
We must now consider the customs which are more im-
mediately connected with the marriage ceremony.
And first, I must speak of a very curious fashion which,
I believe, is still prevalent in Wales, viz. the practice of
MARRIAGE CUSTOMS. 95
" making a bidding," or of sending bidding letters, of which
a specimen will be given lower down. This is so general
in most parts of the Principality that printers usually keep
the form in type, and make alterations in it as occasion
requires. The custom in towns is confined to servants and
mechanics, but in the country, farmers of the humbler sort
make biddings. Of late years tea-parties have, in Car-
marthen, been substituted for biddings, but persons attend-
ing pay for what they get, and so incur no obligation.
But recipients at a " bidding " are expected to return, and
generally do return, all gifts of the above nature whenever
called for upon a similar occasion. When a bidding is
made it is usual for a large procession to accompany the
young couple to church, and thence to the house where the
bidding is held. Accompanying is considered an addition
to the obligation conferred by the gift. " I have seen," says
the writer from whom I have culled the above informa-
tion, " I daresay, six hundred people in a wedding pro-
cession. The men walk together, and the women together
to church, and in returning they walk in pairs, or often in
trios, one man between two women. In the country they
ride, and there is generally a desperate race home to the
' bidding,' where you would be surprised to see a comely
lass, with Welsh hat on her head and ordinary dress, often
take the lead of fifty or a hundred smart fellows, over
rough roads that would shake your Astley riders out of
their seats and propriety." 1
The form of " bidding letter " referred to by the writer
above quoted ran thus : —
" Carmarthen, October 2nd, 1850.
"As we intend to enter the matrimonial state on Tuesday,
the 22nd of October instant, we are encouraged by our
friends to make a bidding, on the occasion, the same day, at
1 Notes and Queries, February 15, 1851.
95 CHURCH FOLKLORE.
the new market-house, near the market-place, when and
where the favour of your good and agreeable company-
is respectfully solicited, and whatever donation you may
be pleased to confer upon us then will be thankfully re-
ceived, and warmly acknowledged, and cheerfully repaid
whenever called for on a similar occasion, by your most
obedient servants,
" Harry Jones, Shoemaker.
"Eliza Davies.
" The young man, his father (John Jones, shoemaker),
and his sister (Mary Jones), his grandmother (Nurse Jones),
his uncle and aunt (George Jones, painter, and Mary, his
wife), and his aunt (Elizabeth Rees), desire that all gifts
due to them be returned to the young man on the above
day, and will be thankful for all additional favours.
" The young woman, her father and mother (Evan Davies,
pig-drover, and Mary, his wife), and her brother and sisters
(John, Hannah, Jane, and Annie Davies), desire that all gifts
of the above nature, due to them, be returned to the young
woman on the above day, and will be thankful for all
additional favours conferred." 1
1 The present custom in Paris is to send out bidding letters on the
occasion of marriage. I give below, in the section on " Funeral Cus-
toms," specimens of funeral bidding letters also used there. The fol-
lowing are examples of those now sent out by Roman Catholic and
Protestant gentle folk respectively — the latter being those relating to a
mixed marriage. It need scarcely be said that " temple " is the word
used to indicate a Calvinistic place of worship, whilst " Eglise " is con-
fined to Roman Catholic churches.
"Monsieur Charles , Avoud honoraire, Chevalier de la
legion d'Honneur, a l'honneur de vous faire part du mariage de
Mademoiselle Louise ■ , sa fille, avec Monsieur Jules ,
Sous-Chef de bureau a la Direction generate des Douanes (Ministere
des Finances).
" Et vous prie d'assister a la benediction nuptiale qui leur sera
MARRIAGE CUSTOMS. gj
We now come to consider the question as to the proper
place in the church where the earlier part of the marriage
service should be conducted. Some people have thought
that to have it in the nave was a mere modern ritualistic
" fad," albeit, plainly ordered by the Prayer Book rubric. It
donnee le Lundi — Fevrier 1890, a midi tres-pre'cis, en 1'Eclise
St. .
"7, rue ."
" Madam — a l'honneur de vous faire part du mariage de son
fils, Monsieur Jules , Sous-Chef de bureau a la Direction
generale des Douanes (Minister des Finances), avec Mademoiselle
" Et vous prie d'assister a la benediction nuptiale qui leur sera
donnee le Lundi — Fevrier 1890, a, midi tres-preds, en l'Eglise
St. .
"6, rue ."
When the invited person is expected at the wedding banquet, a card
is enclosed to the following effect :-—
' ' Monsieur Charles
recevra
apres la Cer^monie Beligieuse.
7, rue ."
Here are the bidding letters in relation to a mixed marriage : —
"Monsieur Henry a l'honneur de vous faire part de son
mariage avec Mademoiselle .
" Et vous prie d'assister a la benediction nuptiale qui leur sera
donnee le Mardi — Avril 1890, au Temple du St. Esprit (rue Koque-
pine) a 11 heures, et a l'Eglise St. Philippe du Roule a Midi precis.
" 45, Avenue de
" Madam a l'honneur de vous faire part du mariage de
Mademoiselle , sa fille, avec Monsieur Henry .
" Et vous prie d'assister a la benediction nuptiale qui leur sera
donne"e, le Mardi — Avril 1890, au Temple du St. Esprit (rue Roque-
pine) a 11 heures, et a l'Eglise St. Philippe du Roule, a Midi pricis.
"7, rue ."
98 CHURCH FOLKLORE.
will interest many to know that the Vicar of Kirkby Lons-
dale has told me that, at the reparation of that church,
about 1868, he said to the old clerk, born in 1788, that he
could now take the earlier part of the marriage service in
the body of the church, and the clerk replied : — " That is
how it used to be when I was a boy."
In the late Professor Sedgwick's little book about Dent,
to which reference has already been made, the following
passage occurs : —
" The marriages, whether by license or by banns, were
celebrated in the body of the church just under the reading
desk till they reached that part of the service where the
minister pronounced the parties to be ' man and wife,' etc.,
and added the blessing. All, then, moved up to the Com-
munion rails, and the clergyman from the north side of the
Communion table read the concluding part of the service,
and finally the entry was made in the parish register
placed on that table."
At Witham in Essex it is, or was, the custom to perform
the first part of the marriage service at the font. When
the Rev. A. Snell was appointed to the benefice in 1873, he
spoke to a bridegroom about this usage, and he (the bride-
groom) particularly requested that he might be. married at
the font, as he liked old customs.
It would be tedious to record the evidence which I have
bearing upon this usage, and I will only cite what the Rev.
F. Hockin of Phillack, Cornwall, tells me with reference to
his parish. He says : — " In the two parishes of which I am
rector there is no tradition of the first part of the marriage
service having been read elsewhere than at the chancel
steps, the parties proceeding to the altar rails at the psalm.
My grandfather, my father, and myself having been rectors
of this benefice for more than 110 years, I may pretty
MARRIAGE CUSTOMS. 99
confidently affirm that this custom has obtained throughout
that time at least."
As an illustration of the way in which old usages die
out, I may mention a fact told me by a clergyman, when
he was Vicar of St. Mary's, Wolverhampton, who stated
that he was informed by his mother that the custom of
reading the first part of the marriage service in the body of
the church was first broken through at Kelvedon in Essex, by
her mother's desire, at the marriage of her elder sister to
the Rev. T. Henderson of Messing, by the then Bishop of
London (Blomfield), in whose diocese Kelvedon then was.
Dr. Blomfield was Bishop of London from 1828 to 1856.
This is very far from being a solitary instance amongst
high ecclesiastical personages, in which supposed law-
makers have been law-breakers.
The pre-Reformation rule was to begin the marriage
service at the door of the church. In his " Wyf of Bathe,'
Chaucer refers to this custom : —
" Housbondes atte chirch dure I have had fyve.''
This old usage was abandoned by authority in the time
of Edward VI. Yet I have reason to think that it was not
entirely given up. There is a poem of Herrick's, written
about 1640, which is entitled, " The Entertainment or Porch
Verse at the Marriage of Mr. Hen. Northly." Herrick
was a Devonshire vicar, and in that county many ancient
customs were long retained.
The late Canon Humble, writing in 1874, gave an account
of some curious customs which had come under his notice
in the north of England.
One is that the bridegroom placed upon the priest's office-
book a purse, which is supposed to represent " all his worldly
goods," together with the ring, to show that he gives all to
his wife as equally at her disposal.
100 CHURCH FOLKLORE.
This is really a very ancient custom, dating- from the
historic times of the Greeks and Romans, and which seems
to have prevailed amongst Eastern nations. In the Middle
Ages in the north of Europe, the bride, on the morning
after the wedding, had the privilege of demanding the
" morgengabe " or morning present; to wit, any sum of
money, or any estate which she might fix upon, and which
the husband could not in honour refuse. Something of
the same kind prevailed in England under the name of
" Dow purse.'' " Dow " being, according to the old diction-
ary writer, " Nic. Bailey," an old word signifying " to
give." When Clovis was married to the Princess Clotilde,
he offered, by proxy, a sou and a denier, which became the
marriage offering by law in France, and to this day pieces
of money are given to the bride varying in value only
according to the social rank and opulence of the parties. 1
Canon Humble added that " the clergyman was ex-
pected to wish the couple health and happiness, and after the
signing of the register, to kiss the bride. The late Dr. Eaine
has recorded how a peculiarly modest priest, who was a
stranger, once marrying a couple in a rural parish, was
surprised by the wedding party still tarrying in the vestry;
and on asking if anything more was wanted, was told by
the bridegroom, ' You haven't kissed Betty,' and he had to
do it, though sorely against the grain. Another person
had also that privilege, viz. the first person who arrived
at the house after the marriage. In the border parishes
the horses of the attendants were all tethered outside the
sacred enclosure, and as soon as the register was signed, all
rushed out of the vestry and a race began, each going
across country to win the coveted prize. Civilisation has,
I suppose, stopped this wild custom."
The canon further states : — " I have myself been stopped
on the road, and compelled to drink the health of the
1 Chambers' " Book of Days," vol. i., p. 719.
MARRIAGE CUSTOMS. IOI
bride and bridegroom by a posse of young men riding in
advance of the party on their way from church. The
'best man' undertakes this office, and 1 believe himself
supplies the liquor."
This custom extends also to Scotland. A " dry-lipped "
wedding is supposed to be certainly unfortunate.
Money, too, is very frequently scattered amongst the
people gathered round the church. Nothing less than
silver was to be so scattered. " The scramble," said Canon
Humble, " was dreadful to see.''
In connection with what was said above about the
bridegroom placing a purse on the book, as well as the
ring, another curious custom was formerly, and still may
be, usual in the north of England. A clergyman, describ-
ing the first wedding which he took in a northern parish,
says that, in the vestry, after the service, the bridegroom
put half-a-sovereign into his hand, a sum much in excess
of the fee, and asked for the change. " I gave it to him,"
says my informant, "according to his request, but as I did
so I plainly observed a shade of displeasure pass over the
open countenance of the bride, which was evidently shared by
the whole wedding party. I felt conscious of having un-
wittingly given offence, nor had I long to wait for an
explanation. The old clerk, on his return from accompany-
ing the newly-married couple to the church porch, said at
once, ' Oh, sir ! you should have put the siller into the
bride's hand ; the money was given to you that you might
do so.'"
Mr. Henderson, in his " Folklore of the Northern
Counties," 1 tells us that throughout Cleveland, he who
gives away the bride claims the first kiss in right of his
temporary paternity. Referring to the custom mentioned
above of a kiss from the clergyman being expected by the
bride, a correspondent says that only a few years before
1 P. 39.
102 CHURCH FOLKLORE.
he wrote, " a fair lady from Durham, who was married in
the south of England, so undoubtedly reckoned on the
clerical salute that, after waiting for it in vain, she boldly
took the initiative, and bestowed a kiss upon the much
amazed south country vicar."
At Knutsford, Cheshire, on the occasion of a wedding,
when the bride has set out for church, a relative invariably
spreads on the pavement, which is composed of pebbles, a
quantity of silver sand, there called " greet," in the forms
of wreaths of flowers, and writes with the same material
wishes for her happiness. This, of course, is soon dis-
covered by others, and immediately, especially if the bride
and bridegroom are favourites, there appears before most of
the houses numerous flowers in sand. It is said that the
custom arose from the only church which they had being
without bells, and therefore the people adopted it to give
notice of a wedding. On the return of a party from church
it is usual to throw money to the boys, and if this is
omitted they keep up a cry of " A butter-milk wedding." 1
I learn from Notes and Queries that at Monkswearmouth
a custom is sometimes observed of sprinkling with sawdust
the road by which a wedding procession is to go to church.
Sea sand was formerly used. This is only done for
marriages in church. 2
The Vicar of Cranbrook in Kent tells me that it is the
custom in his parish, when a newly married couple leave
the church to strew the path with the emblems of the
bridegroom's calling, so that carpenters walk on shavino-s,
gardeners on flowers, farmers on cut grass, shoemakers on
leather parings, etc. He adds, " I lately officiated at a
butcher's wedding here. On leaving the church, not only
were sheep skins laid down to the church gates to walk on,
but two men, each with a lamb in his arms, decked with
1 Notes and Queries, Dec. 24, 1853.
2 Ibid., March 4, 1876.
MARRIAGE CUSTOMS IO3
wedding favours, gravely placed themselves at the head of
the procession."
I fancy that this custom may be confined to Kent, for the
only other instance that I have heard of was told to me by
the widow of the late rector of Harrietsham in that county.
This lady remembers a carpenter being married there in
winter, and the people strewed the church path with shav-
ings for the bride and bridegroom to walk over after they
left the church.
In Cumberland, as I understand, it is quite against the
rule for the fathers and mothers of the couple to be united
to attend a marriage. The Rev. A. G. Loftie of Beckermet
tells me that he has had but two fathers doing so in nine
years, and only three in twelve years. An old farmer who
lived on the border of Scotland gave as a reason for this,
that the idea is still in force that the bridegroom runs away
with the bride without the parents' consent. The old
custom was for him to take her up behind him on his horse,
and to ride away with her.
There is, I am told, in the eastern counties a popular
dislike on the part of newly married couples to sign their
names in the Church Register, preferring to put a mark
instead, even though they can write very fairly. I have
no idea as to the meaning of this.
In his "Folklore of the Northern Counties," Mr.
Henderson relates a singular local custom which still exists
in the village of Whitburn, near Sunderland. It is, he
says, usual there to send what are called " hot pots " to the
church to meet the bride and bridegroom as they come out.
A gentleman of that place thus describes his own marriage :
"After the vestry scene, the bridal party having formed in
procession on leaving the church, we were stopped in the
porch by a row of five or six women ranged on our left
hand, each holding a large mug with a cloth over it. These
were in turn handed to me, and handed by me to my wife,
104 CHURCH FOLKLORE.
"who, after taking a sip, returned it to me. It was then
handed to the next couple, and so on in the same form to
all the party. The composition in these mugs was mostly,
I am sorry to say, simply horrible ; one or two were very
fair, and one very good. They are sent to the church by
all classes, and are considered a great compliment. I have
never heard of the custom elsewhere. Here it has existed
beyond the memory of the oldest inhabitant, and an aged
iishwoman, who has been married some sixty-five years,
tells us that at her wedding there were seventy hot pots."
May not Shakespeare be alluding to this custom, or to
•one akin to it, when, in " The Taming of the Shrew," he
.says : —
" After many ceremonies done,
He calls for wine. A health, quoth he, as if
He had been aboard carousing to his mates
After a storm ; quaffed off the muscadel,
And threw the sops all in the sexton's face,
Having no other reason
But that his beard grew thin and hungerly,
And seemed to ask him sops as he was drinking." 1
A correspondent to Notes and Queries, some thirty or
more years back, wrote as follows : — " On the occasion of
iny marriage in Glamorganshire, nearly twenty years ago,
and in passing through the village adjoining that in which
the ceremony had been performed, my carriage was stayed
by the villagers, holding a band of twisted evergreens and
Hewers, who good-humouredly refused to let my wife and
self pass until we had paid them a toll." 2
Very much like this is the following : — " A gentleman
states that when he was holding a curacy in Somersetshire
adjoining the Bristol Channel, the village children, on the
occasion of a wedding, used to fasten the gates of the
1 Act iii., scene 2.
Notes awl Queries (1858), p. 48.
MARRIAGE CUSTOMS. I OS
church with evergreens and flowers. The floral bond a
silver key never failed to unloose. 1
A singular custom, says Mr. Henderson, 2 prevails at the
village of Belford in Northumberland of making the
bridal pair, with their attendants, leap over a stone placed
in their path outside the church porch. This is called the
"louping"or "petting" stone, and it is said on the spot
that the bride must leave all her pets and humours behind
her when she crosses it. At the neighbouring village of
Emhleton, two stout young lads place a wooden bench
across the door of the church porch, assist the bride, bride-
groom, and her friends to surmount the obstacle, and then
look out for a donation from the bridegroom.
At Crosby Ravensworth, Westmoreland, a similar custom
is in vogue. When the service is over, and the bridal
party is about to leave the church, the children from the
village school congregate round the door, and hold the
handle, so as to prevent egress, until the bridegroom has
passed some coin under the door. A further scramble for
halfpence is looked for at the churchyard gate.
Although this volume is professedly confined to the re-
•cording of church customs, perhaps a Scottish Presbyterian
usage may be introduced here without impropriety, as it
bears upon what has been related above.
It is well known that in the Scottish Establishment the
marriage ceremony is often performed at the house of the
bride. About the time it is expected that the young
couple will start upon their honeymoon jaunt, all the boys
and girls in the neighbourhood assemble in front of the
house, and amuse themselves by calling out " Bell money,"
" Bell money," " Shabby wedding," " Shabby wedding — >
■cannot spare a bawbee." These shouts are redoubled when
the door is opened to let the bride and bridegroom out, who
1 Notes and Queries (1858), p. 178.
2 "Folklore of the Northern Counties," p. 38.
106 CHURCH FOLKLORE.
are accompanied to the carriage by most of the company.
And as the pushing of the crowd would be incon-
venient, someone of the party at this moment showers a
lot of coppers and small silver amongst them, thereby
drawing their attention from the young folks, who, under
cover of this diversion, are driven off. 1
The wedding gifts are not always donations of money.
Another writer gives the following description of a custom
witnessed by himself at a wedding in the East Riding of
Yorkshire. He says that on the bride alighting from her
carriage at her father's door, a plate covered with morsels
of bridecake was flung from the window of the second
storey upon the heads of the crowd congregated in the
streets below, and the divination, I was told, consists in-
observing the fate which attends its downfall. If it
reaches the ground in safety without being broken, the
omen is a most unfavourable one. If, on the other hand,,
the plate is shattered to pieces, and the more the better,,
the auspices are looked upon as most happy. 2
And while thus incidentally touching upon what may be^
termed a marriage superstition, I may mention that Mr. J..
T. Micklethwaite, F.SA., tells me that in the south of York-
shire an idea prevails that during the marriage ceremony
the person who speaks the loudest in answer to the question
put by the clergyman will die first.
I have given various examples of friendly feeling as ex-
hibited in connection with weddings by those not immedi-
ately concerned. The following instance of a curse
pronounced on such an occasion carries with it a certain
amount of interest, though not of the most agreeable kind.
During March, 1850, the clergyman married a couple in
the Parish Church of St. Peter's, Thanet. An old woman,
an aunt of the bridegroom, displeased at the marriage, stood
1 Notes and Qucriex, March 3, 1855.
- Ibid., June 4, 1853.
MARRIAGE CUSTOMS. 107
at the, church gate, and pronounced an anathema upon the
married pair. She then bought a new broom, went home,
swept -her house, and hung the broom over the door. By
this she intimated her rejection of her nephew, and forbade
him to enter her house. She had probably some precedent
for this, but I have not been able to discover what it was. 1
Let us turn now to a more pleasant marriage usage. The
Vicar of Helpringham, Sleaford, Lincolnshire, states that
from time immemorial it has been the custom for the
wedding party to accompany the bride and bridegroom in
a walk round the village in the evening after tea on the
wedding day. This is still done, but it is not so common
as it once was. Mr. Micklethwaite tells me that he has
himself witnessed such a procession.
We find in various connections some odd fancies pre-
vailing amongst our ancestors relative to the use of church
doors. Here is one related to me by the Rev. A. C. Lefroy.
At Longdon, near Tewkesbury, the people had a custom at
weddings of going in at one door and out at another. This,
says my correspondent, I learnt when I was repairing my
church on first coming to the parish in 1S68, and happened
to close the second outlet.
Akin to this I may mention what a lady at Torquay has
told me as to an idea popularly entertained at Morchard
Bishop in North Devon. It was there thought ill luck for
a newly married pair if they chanced to leave the church
by the small door on the north side, which was always
used by the clergy.
Not many years ago, as the vicar informs me, when a
wedding of any importance occurred at Winchcombe,
Gloucestershire, the altar used to be covered with a coarse
table-cloth, and two oval glass dishes were placed thereon
together with the register books.
In the section following on '' Funeral Customs " it will be
1 Notes and Queries, April 6, 1850.
108 CHURCH FOLKLORE.
seen that there was formerly a practice in some parishes
for persons attending to place an offering upon the altar for
the clergyman. It seems probable that the glass dishes
were intended to receive donations from the wedding party
when they went to the altar to assist in the signing of the
register.
A custom prevails, or did prevail, in Manchester, as the
Rev. J. A. Lacey tells me, of giving to the first couple
married in a new church a Bible — of the " Family " variety
if the priest is generous, and can afford it — and also a
Prayer Book.
Here is a curious item which I cull from Notes and
Queries. The writer states that he visited the quaint old
church of St. John-in-the- Wilderness, near Exmonth, in
1850, and asked the old man who points out its battered
beauties why there were still books in the reading-desk,
adding : — " He informed me that marriage and funeral
services were still performed there. This, however, is the
only authority I have on the subject." 1
There is a very wholesome tradition in some parts of the
country that a person ought not to be married until he has
been confirmed. A former assistant curate of Helmsley in
the North Riding of Yorkshire states that this was the
prevailing feeling in that parish when he was there more
than twenty years ago. Indeed, once a young man asked
him as a great favour to marry him on the promise that he
would be confirmed on the first opportunity. In the parish
of Legbourne, Lincolnshire, the vicar tells me that the same
feeling is prevalent.
I find that a very curious custom exists in some villages
in the north of Nottinghamshire. Wheat is thrown over a
newly married couple with the exclamation, " Bread for
life and pudding for ever," which, I suppose, is intended to
mean, " May you not only have bare necessaries but also be
1 Notes and Queries, October 4, 1851.
MARRIAGE CUSTOMS. IO9
able to afford some luxuries.", In Sussex also, I believe,
that wheat is thrown on such occasions. The throwing of
rice at the carriage when the newly joined couple are de-
parting, which is a very general custom, is akin to this, and
is intended, of course, to represent symbolically a wish that
the bridal may be a fruitful one.
The following custom I imagine to be peculiar to the
Scottish Establishment, but I may, perhaps, introduce it as
an illustration. Speaking of what took place in the last
century, a writer in the Gentleman's Magazine says that,,
" In their marriages (Inverness is especially mentioned)
they do not use the ring as in England ; but the bride, if
she be of the middle class, is conducted to the church by
two men, who take her under the arms and hurry the poor
unwilling creature along the street, as a pickpocket i&
dragged to a horsepond in London, she having been at-
tended the evening before by the bridesmaids, who, with
great ceremony, washed her feet." 1
An odd formality, I understand, took place in Galashiels
in 1867, which the parties believed to constitute a legal
marriage. They each took a handful of meal and knelt
down facing each other, after placing a basin between them.
Both then put their handful of meal in the basin and
mixed it, in token that they would not sever till death did
them part. After swearing to this effect on the Bible, they
rose up and declared themselves man and wife. This was
chronicled in the Scotsman at the time, but I am unable to
give the reference.
Anyone who cares to turn to February 15th in Chambers'
" Book of Days " will find some very curious information
about odd marriages, which at one time or another have
taken place. The article is far too long to quote, but one
or two extracts may be interesting.
It is noted that the announcements of marriages pub-
1 Gentleman's Magazine (1754), p. 370.
IIO CHURCH FOLKLORE.
lished in the Gentleman's Magazine during the greater part
of the last centurjr included very precise statements of the
portions brought by the several brides. Thus : —
"Mr. N. Tillotson, an eminent preacher among the people
called Quakers, and a relative of Archbishop Tillotson, to
Miss , with £7,000."
Here is another excerpt : —
" Mr. P. Bowen to Miss Nicholls of Queenhithe, with
£10,000."
The next bridegroom appears to have done rather better
pecuniarily : —
" Sir George C to the Widow Jones, with £1,000 a
year, besides ready-money."
The article above mentioned gives some quaint instances
of persons who, so to speak, had been very much married.
Though some of them are outside the immediate object of
our inquiry it seems a pity not to place them on record.
The writer says : — " It is usually considered a noteworthy
circumstance for a man or woman to have been married
three times ; but of old this number would have been
thought little of. St. Jerome mentions a widow who
married her twenty-second husband, who in his turn had
been married to twenty wives — surely an experienced
couple ! A woman named Elizabeth Masi, who died in
Florence, in 1768, had been married to seven husbands, all
of whom she outlived. She married the last of the seven
at the age of seventy. When on her deathbed she recalled
the good and had points of each of her husbands, and
having impartially weighed them in the balance, she
MARRIAGE CUSTOMS. Ill
singled out her fifth spouse as the favourite, and desired
that her remains might be interred near his. The death of
a soldier is recorded in 1784, who had had five wives, and
his widow, aged ninety, wept over the grave of her fourth
husband. The writer who mentioned these facts naively
added, ' The said soldier was very much attached to the
marriage state.' There is an account of a gentleman who
had been married to four wives, and who lived to be a
hundred and fifteen years old. When he died he left
twenty-three children alive and well, some of the said chil-
dren being from three to four score. A gentleman died at
Bordeaux, in 1772, who had been married sixteen times."
In Notes and Queries of July 29, 1876, a number of
instances are given, ranging from 1723 to 1840, of women
having been married " in the smock " or in a sheet. This
was done from a mistaken notion that it freed the husband
from responsibility for the woman's debts, and in one case
(Whitehaven, 1766) it was to protect the woman's property
from the creditors of her husband. In another case the
lady, it is said, came to church without any clothes on at
all, but the parson refused to officiate. I have read of a
clergyman who, under similar circumstances, went through
the service, on the ground that nothing was said in the
rubric about the woman's dress, as is the case in the
churching service. This gentleman evidently did not adopt
the view taken by the judges in the Maconackie case, that
■" omission is prohibition."
In the same publication, under date March 5, 1853, a
writer states that he remembers that his brother, when
curate of a parish in Lincolnshire, married a woman
enveloped only in a sheet. I cite this instance to show
that the strange custom has continued to within a measur-
able distance of our own day. This is the latest case that
I know of.
112 CHURCH FOLKLORE.
Among the many clerical scandals prevalent in the for-
mer half of the last century were what were known as-
" Fleet marriages," which were so common that between
October 19, 1704, and February 12, 1705, no fewer than two-
hundred and ninety-five were celebrated within the " Eules,"
without licence or certificate of banns. The marriages were
generally performed in some low public-house or barber's
shop. The officiants were clergymen of the lowest type,,
who were confined in the Fleet prison for debt. Sometimes
publicans kept these clerics on a salary of twenty shillings
a week. Advertisements were exhibited or published, in-
viting people to come and be married without the usual
restrictions. Here is a specimen : — " G.R. At the true
chapel at the Old Red Hand and Mitre, three doors up
Fleet Lane, and next door to the White Swan, marriages
are performed by authority by the Rev. Mr. Symson,
educated at the university of Cambridge, and late chaplain
to the Earl of Rothes. N.B. — Without imposition." Touts
were employed to get customers, and received a shilling
each. Some of these clergymen officiated at their own
lodgings, but the majority were employed by the keepers
of the marriage houses. The landlord usually acted as
clerk, and if the clergyman were not salaried, they divided
the fee between them. Each marriage house had a regular
register.
In 1821 the Government purchased some of these
registers, and- deposited them with the Registrar of the
Consistory Court of London. Thus the scandalous prac-
tices which had been enacted at the Fleet became publicly
known. Many of these entries were falsified, as, for
example : —
"5 Nov. 1742 was married Benjamen Richards of the
parish of St. Martins in the Fields, Br., and Judith Lance
Do. Sp. at the Bull and Garter, and gave [a guinea] for an
MARRIAGE CUSTOMS. 1 13
ante-date to March y e 11th in the same year, which Lilley
complied with, and put 'em in his book accordingly, there
being a vacancy in the book suitable to the time."
Here is another : —
" Mr. Comyns gave me half a guinea to find a bride-
groom, and defray all expences. Parson 2s. 6d. : Husband
do., and 5s. 6d. myself."
Both these entries seem to have come from private
registers. It was no uncommon thing to provide a bride-
groom. A case is known in which a man was married four
times, receiving five shillings on each occasion " for his
trouble."
Pennant says that in walking by the prison in his youth,
he had been often accosted with, " Sir, will you please to
walk in and be married ? " And he states that painted
signs of a male and female hand conjoined, with the in-
scription, "Marriages performed within," were common
along the building.
Whoever wanted to be married quietly and quickly,
without exposure or inquiry, resorted to the Fleet. The
registers contain the names of all kinds of persons, from the
barber to the officer in the guards, from the pauper to the
peer. Chambers, who has a long article about these mar-
riages in his " Book of Days," under July 24, gives a list of
aristocratic names as appearing in the Fleet registers. The
following covers a good deal of ground : — " Magistrates and
parochial authorities helped to swell the gains of the Fleet
parsons, the former settling certain cases by sending the
accused to the altar instead of to the gallows, and the latter
getting rid of a female pauper by giving a gratuity to some
poor wretch belonging to another parish to take her " for
better, for worse."
114 CHURCH FOLKLORE.
Things got to such a pitch that, in 1753, a Bill was intro-
duced, which became law the following year, making the
solemnisation of matrimony in any other place than a
church or chapel, and without banns or licence, felony,
punishable by transportation, and declaring all such
marriages void.
The chaplain of the Savoy, however, on the plea that
being extra -parochial it was not bound by the new
Marriage Law, ventured to issue licences. A public ad-
vertisement was actually put forth in 1754 to this effect : —
" By authority, marriages performed with the utmost
privacy, decency, and regularity at the ancient Royal
Chapel of St. John the Baptist in the Savoy, where regular
and authentic registers have been kept from the time of
the Reformation (being two hundred years and upwards)
to this day. The expense, not more than one guinea, the
five shilling stamp included. There are five private ways
by land to this chapel, and two by water." In 1755, the
chaplain married no less than 1,190 couples. The authori-
ties began to move, and a curate — one Grierson — was ap-
pointed, the chaplain disappearing from public, but still
issuing licences. The result was that they were both tried,
convicted, and sentenced to fourteen years transportation,
and 400 marriages were declared void. 1
The term " May Fair Marriages " is a more or less
familiar one. The Rev. Alexander Keith had a chapel
there, built in 1730, and carried on a great business in
matrimony. He is said to have married nearly 200 couples
in a day, and the day before the Marriage Act came into
operation no less than 51 couples were united there.
But if for a time there were such scandals in the English
Church, the Presbyterians of Scotland, at any rate, were
not in a position to throw stones.
About 1745 there existed a sort of Gretna Green in the
1 "Book of Days," vol. ii., p. 120.
MARRIAGE CUSTOMS. 115
Canongate, Edinburgh. A gentleman writing from Perth,
quotes the "Newgate Kalendar" (vol. ii., p. 269): — "It
was customary for some of the ministers of the Church of
Scotland who were out of employment to marry people at
the ale-houses in the same manner that the Fleet marriages
were conducted in London. Sometimes people of fortune
thought it prudent to apply to these marc-iage brokers, but
as their chief business lay amongst the lower ranks of
people they were deridingly called by the name of ' Buckle
the Beggars.' Most of these marriages were solemnised at
public-houses in the Canongate." x
Not long ago public interest was excited by a breach of
promise case in which the jury found a verdict of £10,000
damages for the lady plaintiff. Few persons are aware
that in 1747, one Miss Davids, of Castle Yard, Holborn,
brought such an action against the Rev. Dr. Wilson, Pre-
bendary of Worcester, Canon of Lincoln, and Vicar of
Newark-on-Trent. The damages were laid at £10,000, and
the jury gave a verdict for the plaintiff' with £7,000 dam-
ages. In this case it would seem that there had been some
kind of betrothal ceremony of a formal character, for the
writer of the paragraph in the Gentleman's Magazine,
whence I gather the information, goes on to state that " they
both had declared the same publicly in a solemn manner." 2
What were known as " Penny Weddings " were formerly
common in Scotland. When a servant maid had behaved
well in a place, her master and mistress frequently made
what was called a " Penny Wedding " for her when she
married. They provided a dinner or supper, and invited
all their relations and friends, and in the evening, when
there was music and dancing, the bride went round the
room, and saluted all the men, during which ceremony
1 Notes and Queries, April 17, 1852.
3 Gentleman's Magazine (1747), p. 293.
n6
CHURCH FOLKLORE.
every person in the company put money into a dish, ac-
cording to his or her inclination and ability, and by this
means the newly married couple often procured a sum
sufficient for persons in their condition to begin the world
with very comfortably. x
The following information has been sent to me by the
Eev. Earnest Geldart, Rector of Little Braxted, Witham,
Essex, where, by the way, is one of the tiniest, but one of
the prettiest country churches that I ever saw. In looking
over the Register of Marriages in his church he found the
following item : —
" May 21, 1730, John Fitch, single man . . . Mary Borley,
single woman . . . were married by licence."
This, my friend tells me, is the first entry in the register
of Little Braxted Church, and, taken by itself, is not very
remarkable ; but when the next entry is the same (with
change of name), and the next but one again the same, it
naturally occurs to one that some cause has been at work to
produce an effect so apparently unlikely in a small country
parish a hundred and fifty years ago.
The rector accordingly set himself to work to analyse
the marriage returns, with the following results : —
1730.
1733.
1735.
2 Marr
1
1
iages
)
by
Licence. 1 by B
' ,
1
1743.
3
>
1
1746.
1
J
o
1749.
1
»
, . o „
1751.
2
j
o ,
1752.
1
,
o ,
1754.
1
J
o „
Banns.
1 Gentleman's Magazine (1754), p. 370.
MARRIAGE CUSTOMS. 117
From 1755 the marriages were by banns, or " bands," as
some of the officiating ministers preferred to spell it, with
few exceptions, till the licensing system seems to take a
fresh vitality in 1784, when this entry occurs : —
" Marriages entered according to Act of Parliament by
licence granted instead of stamps."
What the cause of this " licence " was may, the rector
thinks, be gathered from an examination of the dates (when
they are given) of the banns.
Usually the entry contains no reference to any particular
date of " asking,' - but simply states in these or similar
words that the contracting parties had been " asked in
church on three several Sundays, and no impediment
alleged."
When, however, the register enters into detail, the dates
stand thus: — Aug. 5, Aug. 19, Sept. 12; Jan. 12, Jan. 26,
Feb. 9, etc. etc. Mr. Geldart continues : —
"Here, I think, is the solution of the problem. Why
should labouring single men and single women seek
marriage by licence, whether granted by the Archdeacon of
Colchester, or by licence instead of stamps, according to Act
of Parliament ?
" Because the Parish Church was so seldom opened that
it was difficult to get banns published even at intervals of
a fortnight. The officiating minister makes no reference to
clerical liberality, but it seems probable that the non-
resident rector preferred to pay the cost of stamps or
licence on the rare occasion of a wedding, rather than be
taxed by the provision of regular duty.
" How rare were the visits of the rector may be judged
from the fact that no entry stands in the rector's name from
the beginning to the end of the book — 1730 to 1813 ; for
the first three years, however, the entries are unsigned, but
118 CHURCH FOLKLORE.
written in a hand bearing some resemblance to that of
'Norman Mead, rector/ who wrote the title of the book.
After that come entries by ' curates,' ' ministers,' ' officiating
ministers,' following each other in swift succession.
" At the end of one entry stands written in a triumphant
flourish : — ' Duty paid thus far.' "
A few words on the taxes on marriages, etc., imposed in
the reign of William III., will be interesting. M. C. Ross
writes : — " The first instance of which I am aware of a tax
on marriages in this country occurs in the 5th of William
and Mary, c. 21. The war in which William engaged soon
rendered it necessary to tax other incidents of humanity,
and accordingly the 6th and 7th of William III., c. 6, was
passed, granting to His Majesty certain rights and duties
upon marriages, births, deaths, and burials, and upon
bachelors and widowers (a widely spread net), for the term
of five years, ' for carrying on the war against France with
vigour." The taxes on births, marriages, and burials were
continued indefinitely by 7 and 8 William III., c. 35.
I know not when this Act was repealed, but by 23 George
III., c. 67, taxes were again imposed on burials, births,
marriages, and christenings, and by 25 George I II., c. 75,
the taxes were extended to Dissenters. By 34 George III.,
c. 11, these taxes were repeated, and they ceased on October
1, 1794," 1
1 Notes and Queries, June 22, 1850.
CHAPTER VI.
FUNERAL CUSTOMS.
" Let's talk of graves, of worms, and epitaphs." * These
words, which Shakespeare puts into the king's mouth,
though appropriate enough to open the subject which we
are about to consider, will not, I trust, be regarded as ex-
pressive of the dolesomeness of this portion of my book.
Although the subject is a solemn one, I venture to think
that readers may peruse it without any fear of its bringing
on an attack of the " dismals.''
It is, as everybody knows, a very usual thing now for
church folk to have choral funerals. There are, however,
still amongst us persons who regard such functions as mere
modern " ritualistic " innovations. It will be well for them
to know that chorally conducted funerals were common
three hundred years ago. Indeed, in upper and middle
class funerals (in towns at any rate) music, as a rule,
formed a part in the post-Reformation Church of England
in years long gone by. In his " History of the Puritans,"
Neal tells us that Mr. Cradley, who was the intruding
minister at Cripplegate Church, seeing a corpse being borne
for burial there, attended by clerks in their surplices,
threatened to shut the doors against them. The singing
men, however, resisted, resolving to go through with their
work till the alderman's deputy threatened to lay them by
the heels for breaking the peace. Upon this, we are told,
they retired, but they complained to the archbishop, who
1 Richard III., act iii, scene 2.
119
120 CHURCH FOLKLORE.
sent for Cradley, deprived him of his living, and confined
him to his house for saying that be would not suffer the
wolf to come to his flock. From Strype's " History of
Parker " we learn that such choral funerals were customary
at the time concerning which he was writing.
It may perhaps be remembered that Shakespeare, in the
play of " Cymbeline," when describing the preparation of
Imogen's apparently dead body for its burial, makes
Arviragus say : —
" Be't so,
And let us, Polydore, though now our voices
Have got the mannish crack, sing him to the ground,
As once our mother, use like note and words."
From this it may be inferred that a choir of boys was
in Shakespeare's day the customary use at funerals.
Anyone who would have confirmation of this could
scarcely do better than turn over the pages of the curious
and valuable " Diary of Henry Machyn : Citizen and
Merchant Tailor of London, from 1550 to 1563." In these
modern days we should call him " undertaker," and I shall
have to quote from his book later on. As regards the
point now being dealt with, it seems quite worth while to
transcribe three entries in his diary which occur in the
same page of the Camden Society's printed edition of the
MSS. volume now before me. 1 They relate to the year
1560, i.e. Queen Elizabeth's second year. It will be
observed that " spellynge " was not one of the writer's
strong points.
" The xij day, the wyche was the vj day of January, was
bered in Sant Benetts at Powlles warff Master Antony
Hyll, on the quen('s) gentjdlan of and a xvj clarkes
syngyng to the chyrche, and to the berehyng."
1 P. 247.
FUNERAL CUSTOMS. 121
" The xvj day of January was bered at St. Aus(tins)
Jakobe the hussar * of Powlles Skolle ; at hys berehyng
wher a xx clarkes syngyng you to the chyrche, and [there]
was a sermon."
This extract shows that funerals with choral adjuncts
were not at that day confined to persons of social standing,
•or of municipal importance.
The next entry in the diary is somewhat different in
■character, but for that reason perhaps the more valuable.
" The xvij day of January was bered in Sant Peters in
Cornehylle Master Flammoke, grocer, and he gayff mony
gownes of blake, and he gave to pore men , and he was
cared to the chyrche withowt syngyng or darks, and at
the chyrche a sphalme songe after Genevay, and a sermon
and bered contenentt."
The ringing of the " Passing Bell " on the event of a
parishioner being moribund is a very old custom. So far
as post-Keformation custom is concerned, we find the
practice enjoined by the advertisements of 1564, wherein
it is enjoined : — " That when any Christian body is in
passing that the bell be tolled, and that the curate be
■specially called for to comfort the sick person; and after
the time of his passing to ring no more than one short
peal, and one before the burial, and another short peal
after the burial."
It is worth noting that the substance of this direction is
■embodied in the 67th canon of a.d. 1603.
"Passing," of course, signifies "departing," and the bell
was intended as a warning to those alive and well that
one of their neighbours was passing to an onward stage in
life's journey. No doubt the original design was to ask'
1 Usher.
122 CHURCH FOLKLORE.
the prayers of all who heard it in behalf of the departing
soul, and as Shakespeare says in " Henry IV. " : —
" And his tongue
Sounds ever after as a sudden bell
Remembered knolling a departed friend."
The custom of ringing the church bell in connection with
the death of a parishioner is a much less religious custom
than it formerly was. It has degenerated into a mere
announcement to the parishioners that one of their neigh-
bours has passed a step forward, and is now no longer in
visible contact with his friends on earth. Wheatley,.
whose well-known commentary on the Book of Common
Prayer first appeared in A.D. 1710, takes the high religious
view of the object of the passing bell. He says: — "Our
church, in imitation of the saints of former ages, calls on
the minister and others who are at hand to assist their-
brother in his last extremity. In order to this she directs
that when anyone is passing out of this life a bell shall
be tolled," etc. etc.
I gather from Dr. Rock x that in Anglo-Saxon times the-
" passing bell," strictly so-called, was not in use, but that
only the death knell was rung, as is customary now. He
writes : — " In all monasteries, whenever anyone belonging
to it died, the death knell was rung, as is customary now,
and though it were the depth of night, no sooner heard
they that well-known bell swinging forth slowly and
sadly its mournful sound, than all the inmates of thai
house rose and knelt down by their bedsides, or hurried to-
the church, and prayed for the soul of the brother or sister
that moment gone.
If what is understood by the "passing bell" (N.B.„
" passing," not " passed ") was rung anywhere, it would
1 l: The Church of our Fathers," vol. ii., p. 27.
FUNERAL CUSTOMS, 123
surely be rung in a monastic house. But Dr. Eock's silence
with respect to it seems to indicate that the custom was
not in use at the time to which he refers.
A good deal of stress used to be laid by the authorities upon
the due performance of the custom which we are consider-
ing. Thus we find in the Chichester Articles of Inquiry,
a.d. 1638, under the heading, " Visitation of the sicke and
persons at the point of death " : — " In the meantime is there
a passing bell tolled that they who are within hearing of it
may be moved in their private devotions to recommend the
state of the departing soule into the hands of their
Redeemer, a duty which all Christians are bound to out of
a fellow-feeling of our common mortality."
In olden days the passing bell was sometimes called the
" soul bell," of which term Bishop Hall says : — " We call
them ' soul bells,' because they signify the departure of the
soul, not because they help the passage of the soul."
Judging from what Bourne says in his Antiqitates
Vulgares, it appears that in the Puritan days the tolling of
the passing bell was regarded as superstitious, and was con-
sequently given up. The dates in the following extract
should be carefully noted. Everybody knows that King
Charles I. was beheaded in 1649, and that until 1660, when
the Restoration took place, the Puritans reigned supreme.
In a vestry book belonging to the Chapel of All Saints in
Newcastle-on-Tyne, it is observable that the tolling of the
bell is not mentioned in the parish accounts during the
earlier portion of this interval. However, at a vestry
holden January 21, 1655, there was made the following
order : —
" Whereas, for some years past, the collecting of the duty
of bell and tolling hath been foreborne and laid aside,
which hath much lessened the revenue of the church, by
which and such-like means it is brought into dilapidation,
124 CHURCH FOLKLORE.
and having now taken the same into serious consideration,
and fully debated the objections made by some against the
same, and having had the judgment of our ministers con-
cerning any superstition that might be in it, which being
clear, it is this day ordered that from henceforth the
church officer appointed thereunto do collect the same, and
bring the money unto the churchwardens, and that those
who desire to have the use of the bells may freely have
them as formerly, paying the accustomed fees."
Bourne seems to have had a very distinct idea as to the
elasticity of the Puritan conscience, for he humorously
adds : — « Ifc is certain they laid it aside because they
thought it superstitious, and it is probable if they had not
wanted money they had not seen the contrary."
It is as well to notify what these fees were in amount.
Strutt in his " Manners and Customs " quotes from the
parish books of Wolchurch thus : —
" The clerke to have for tollynge of the passynge belle
for manne, womanne, or childes, if it be in the day four-
pence, if it be in the night, eightpence for the same."
It seems to have been the general custom to arrange the
tolling at the funeral in such wise as to indicate to all
within hearing whether the deceased were man, woman, or
child, the strokes of the hammer being in threes in honour
of the Blessed Trinity. These strokes were called " Tellers."
Thus three tellers denoted the burial of a child, six that of
a woman, and nine that of a man. Hence the common
saying that " nine tailors (tellers) made a man."
The next point to deal with is the garb which of yore
was commonly used at funerals.
At Ballintoy, county Antrim, it was, and I believe still is,
FUNERAL CUSTOMS. 125
customary for the people to wear white linen scarves, or in
case of poverty white calico. These are gathered into a
shoulder knot, and worn diagonally across the breast.
This custom was observed by rich and poor alike, and
both at men's and women's funerals. The clergyman who
always received one of these scarves was wont to hang it
over the side of the reading desk.
The late Rev. Robert Howard told me that in Stafford-
shire, Derbyshire, and the West Riding of Yorkshire, in
each of which localities he had held parochial charges, it
was, and perhaps still is, the custom for the friends of the
deceased to provide a broad black silk scarf with a shoulder
knot to be worn by the officiating clergyman across the
surplice at a funeral, and also on the Sunday following,
when the mourners were always present at divine service.
These scarves were regarded as the perquisites of the
priest's wife, who stored them up till there was enough
material to make a silk dress or mantle. I myself re-
member that the same custom prevailed in Warwickshire
in my young days, but it was, of course, confined to those
persons who were well off.
A custom akin to this has been reported to me by a lady
at Ventnor as being usual at Bradford-on-Avon. The
Sunday after a funeral the vicars' and clerks' hats, with im-
posing hat bands, were hung on two nails on the desk
which in past days formed one side of the vicarage square
baize-lined pew.
At Ashbourne, Derbyshire, it was, and perhaps still is,
the custom, in case of funerals from the workhouse, for the
poor folk who are inmates, and who attend the funeral as
bearers, to appear habited in long black cloaks.
Black and white " frocks " were formerly worn at Arundel
by men of the poorer class when they went to a funeral. Of
late years, however, these have been gradually going out of
use. The last funeral at which all the bearers wore white
126 CHURCH FOLKLORE.
frocks took place some twenty or more years ago. Black
frocks are still, I believe, occasionally worn there as mourn-
ing, and are to be seen in church now and then. Fifty
years ago frocks were worn by all, old and young ; white
in summer, and brown or slate coloured in winter. The
parish clerk appeared in his desk vested like the rest of the
poorer members of the congregation, in a white or slate
coloured frock.
My late housekeeper, who was brought up near Alton,
Hants, told me that in her younger days what were locally
called " round frocks," which I remember went under the
name of " smock frocks " in the midland counties, were
always -worn at labourers' funerals. Her husband added
that in the same locality, on the anniversary of the village
club, all the members were bound to wear the round frock
till after dinner under a penalty of five shillings ; the fine
going, of course, to the club funds.
In Cornwall, I understand, it used to be the custom at
children's funerals for little girls, dressed in light colours,
to carry one of their own sex and age to the grave.
And as to the construction of graves, I can hear of
nothing peculiar save in the south-western part of England.
The vicar of St. Cuthbert's (Wells) has told me that it was
formerly the custom there to plaster the inside of the grave
when the deceased was a plasterer by trade. Some forty
or more years ago the churchyard was closed by order of
council, and an attempt was made to continue the old usage
in the cemetery. One such case is known to have occurred
among the earlier interments there, but the practice was
stopped, I believe, by the Burial Board.
When I was assistant curate at St. Mary Church, near
Torquay, some forty years ago, the graves there were
always most carefully made, and were all lined with white
plaster. This must have been an ancient custom, fpr I
FUNERAL CUSTOMS. 1 27
remember that when an old grave in the somewhat crowded
churchyard happened to be broken into by the sexton's
spade, the white line of plaster was distinctly visible. In
my time the soil was scrupulously removed from the edge
of the grave, and the ground made quite flat and smooth.
About six inches or so of the surface round the excavation,
which was always cut very clean, fine black ashes were
spread as a sort of border, and very neat and nice it looked.
I do not know if the old custom is still retained.
As regards the treatment of brick graves in South Devon,
the custom has been to whitewash the bricks in the lower
part, and to colour the upper part black.
Some twelve months ago a maiden lady friend of mine,
who was much beloved by all who knew her, was buried
in the cemetery at Teignmouth. She lay in her coffin with
a chaplet of eucharis and lilies of the valley on her brow,
and the sides of the grave were lined with moss.
We may now go on to inquire how the body was con-
veyed to the grave, and the ceremonies which accompanied
the removal. Some of these usages are still kept up.
The Nottinghamshire Advertiser of March 20, 1877,
describing a village funeral, states : — " The coffin was borne
by napkins, which we may observe is an old Nottingham-
shire custom."
In Lincolnshire, as I am informed, the same practice is,
or has been, followed, as also in Devon and Cornwall. I
myself remember that, in my younger days, napkins were
always so used in Warwickshire. Within the last few years
I have myself had them used at the funeral of a relative
which I personally conducted. In this instance long pieces
of strong linen towelling were employed. These were
passed through the handles, and underneath the coffin.
The bearers wrapped the ends round the fore-arm, and
were thus able to carry a great weight with comparative
128 CHURCH FOLKLORE.
ease. On this occasion it was necessary to have a leaden
coffin.
It is much to be wished that this underhand method of
carrying coffins were universal, instead of the unsightly
and dangerous practice of having them raised on men's
shoulders as is common in London and other places. A
great deal of inconvenience and risk of accident would be
saved thereby. What can be more unseemly than to wit-
ness half a dozen men staggering under a heavy coffin in
their endeavour to place it upon the tressles in the nave of
the church ? Who has not felt on such an occasion an in-
ward fear lest the coffin should fall ? Polished tiles form
but a very insecure foothold for the bearers, especially in a-
country place where nailed boots are generally worn, and
the men are apt to be awkward.
Mr. J. T. Micklethwaite, F.S.A., tells me that the use of
towels at funerals was customary at Hopton in the parish
of Mirfield, Yorkshire, till about half a century ago. Nap-
kins used to be kept at the Hall for that purpose, and were
lent to the neighbours when required. The old parish
church is about two miles from the village, and down a
very steep hill. His aunt, the last of the family who lived
at the Hall, stated that the custom of. lending the napkins
had ceased because once, when they were worn out, she pro-
vided new ones of cotton, and the people would not use
them, linen being " the proper thing."
Besides these " bearers," as they were called, other things
needful for funerals and weddings were kept at the Hall
for public use, including two silver cups, one of which — a
quart tankard — my friend has in his possession. The last
time it was lent the lady above mentioned found a child
dragging it full of pebbles across the " fowd," and then, she
said, it was time to stop lending. The tankard bears the
sign of rough usage, of course, but it will still hold liquor
up to within half an inch of the top.
FUNERAL CUSTOMS. 1 29
Here is a rather curious development of the above usage.
A friend wrote to me in 1871 to say that at Redcar in
Cleveland, in the earlier part of this century, a funeral was
preceded by a public breakfast. Then the coffin was
carried slung upon towels knotted together, and borne by re-
lays of men to Maroke, up the old "Corpse- way," and bumped
upon a heap of stones three times. This was an ancient
resting-place at the top of the hill. The " Lamentation of
a Sinner " was then sung, and the procession moved to the
churchyard, every man, woman, and child receiving a dole
of sixpence as they entered.
The " Lamentation of a Sinner '' may be found printed at
the end of the Metrical Psalms in most old Prayer Books.
The first stanza is : —
" O Lord, turn not Thy face away
From him that lies prostrate ;
Lamenting sore his sinful life,
Before Thy mercy's gate."
And the last : —
" Mercy, good Lord, mercy I ask,
This is the total sum ;
For mercy, Lord, is all my suit,
O let Thy mercy come."
At Broadwas in Worcestershire it was usual for the
bearers, on reaching the church walk, to set down the
coffin, and as they stood around to bow to it. 1
A curious Wesleyan usage is worth recording. The Rev.
Hastings P. Elwin states that a Wesleyan in Yorkshire
gave him an account of the ceremony ordinarily observed
up to about thirty years ago on the evening before a
burial. All the friends who were to be present at the
funeral assembled at the house, and after the customary
eating and drinking adjourned to the room where the body
1 Notes and Queries, September 3, 1853.
I30 CHURCH FOLKLORE.
lay, having a great candle burning beside it, and they
grouped around it and sung a hymn.
Hymn singing was not at all uncommon in funeral pro-
cessions. Thus at Tudhoe, Durham, so late as 1867 hymns
were sung by the mourners on their way from the house
through the village, and the Eev. J. Eddowes, who was
Vicar of Gar ton-in- the- Wolds, from 1852-1859, says that
at that time the custom of singing in processions was ob-
served there. At Highclere, I am told, the parish clerk
used to sing the 90th psalm before the corpse on its way to
the grave.
Here I may refer to a communication of Dr. Barber of
Ulverstone. He says that in the Furness district of North
Lancashire the practice of singing hymns at funerals on
the way to church is still kept up. Another custom is to
give each individual a small cake made of the purest
wheaten flour — oatcake being in general use — called arval
bread, which he or she is expected to carry home and eat
with the rest of the family. The derivation of this word
" arval " seems somewhat doubtful. Nick Bailey in his
quaint dictionary gives arval or arvil as " a funeral
solemnity,'' and '' arvil supper " as a feast given at funerals.
He marks it as an old country word. Worcester spells it
" arvel," and derives it from the Welsh. A large number
of persons were usually " bidden " to these funerals, and it
was considered a great slight if each family did not send at
least one representative. In some parts, where the parish
church was at a considerable distance, the body was carried
on a bier, and there were stones set at intervals along the
roadside to place it on while the bearers were changing
sides. These were called " resting stones." In these
districts it was common to distribute the " arval bread "
before starting, and each person received a cake and a
quarter. The quarter was generally eaten during a halt
about halfway to the church.
FUNERAL CUSTOMS. 131
As to these burial repasts the Rev. R. Bramley of Kirk-
dale, Yorkshire, has told me that the cake, which in his
neighbourhood is handed round at the feast beforehand, is
always arranged in a peculiar manner. Should a deceased
woman have had a child in her unmarried state the cere-
mony, i.s omitted, and he adds :— " I think that I am correct
in saying that the bell is not rung the usual number of
times indicating the sex of the departed. . . . Where I was
curats in Cheshire I found an almost invariable accompani-
ment to the funeral banquet was a kind of thick milk
pudding flavoured with cinnamon."
The Rev. G. F. Weston of Crosby Ravensworth, West-
moreland, tells me that in his parish, on the occasion of a
funeral, very large numbers of friends and neighbours are
invited by messengers sent on what are called " bidding
rounds." One or two persons are invited from each house.
They are bidden for about 10 o'clock a.m. to the house of
the deceased, the hour of "lifting the corpse" is also
named, as well as the entertainment provided for visitors.
In the case of well-to-do families there is generally dinner
prepared at one or both of the village inns. Sometimes as
many as eighty or a hundred will have dinner at each. In
the case of poorer families refreshment is provided at the
house, generally in the shape of a substantial tea.
At the "lifting of the corpse" the people assemble in
front of the house, and the coffin is deposited on a couple
of chairs, and a hymn is sung. Before entering the church-
yard the coffin is rested and another hymn is sung. During
the service is sung another hymn. After ' the service is
over at the grave a dole of sixpence is given to each poor
person present.
As regards the custom of " bidding rounds," the Rev.
H. T. Ellacombe states 1 that at Penrith the town crier
gives notice of funerals thus, after ringing his bell — " I am
1 Notes and Queries, April 28, 1855.
132 CHURCH FOLKLORE.
to give notice to all friends and neighbours that are in-
clined to attend the funeral of of Street, to
attend at o'clock." 1
In connection with this part of our subject, the Rev
Mackenzie Walcot tells us that he has twice seen the bell-
man precede the funeral of undergraduates at Oxford, once
to a college chapel, and once to St. Mary's Church. 2
1 In Paris it is the custom for the gentlefolks to send out
"bidding letters" on the occasion of a funeral in the form given
below. They are printed on quarto paper, with a black border exactly
three quarters of an inch wide. The two which I reproduce were
given to me by a friend the last time I was in Paris, and are both of
quite recent date. The former was issued by a Roman Catholic
family ; the latter by a family of Protestants. For obvious reasons the
surnames and addresses are suppressed.
M
Le Vicomte db , Monsieur Henri ;
Le Vicomte de , le Comte et la Comtesse de ;
Le Baron et la Baronne de , Monsieur O. ,
Oapitaine le Marquis et la Marquise d' -,
Monsieur db Capitaine d'Etat-Major , et la
Comtesse ;
Mademoiselle Alice de , Monsieur Raoul ,
Mademoiselle Elisabeth , Monsieur Charles ,
MesdSmoiselles Marie, Jeanne et Pauline ;
Monsieur Ariste , Monsieur Anatole ,
Madame ;
Messieurs Paul, Rene et Gaston ;
Le Marquis et le Comte de , le Comte et le Vicomte
, Monsieur de , Lieutenant de Dragons, et la
Baronne le General Baron ;
Ont l'honneur de vous faire part de la perte douloureuse qu'ils
viennent d'eprouver en la personne de
Madame la Vicomtesse de ■
Nee
leur epouse, mere, fille, belle-fille, sceur, belle-soeur, tante, niece ct
cousine, d&e'de'e, munio des Sacraments de 1'Eglise, le
188 , en son domicile, rue • , n" — , a Page de 39 ans.
PRIEZ POUR ELLE.
2 Notes and Queries, Oct. 20, 1855.
FUNERAL CUSTOMS. 133
To South country people the term "lifting" the corpse
may seem strange. It may be well to remind those readers
who are wont from time to time to send materials to be
dyed at Messrs. Pullars' works at Perth, that the label
which the firm sends round to its clients is printed in the
following form. This shows that the word " lift," as used
in the North, is equivalent to " called for,'' " taken up," or
" collected," in South country language : —
'£ " KEEP VERY DRY.
To Messrs. J. PULLAR & SONS,
(Head Office)
CHENIES ST, TOTTENHAM COURT ROAD,
LONDON.
Lifted at . . . o'clock on . . . day of . . . 188 ."
It will be seen that I copy a recent label.
M
Vous etes prid d'assister aux Convoi et Service de
Monsieur Alexandre Johan Henry de ,
ancien Ministre Plenipotentiaire,
Grand Officer de la Legion d'honneur et de plusieurs Ordres
Etrangers,
de^de subitement, le , a lage de 71 ans ;
Qui se ferontle Dimanche 6 du courant, a 3 heures tres-precises,
au Temple du St. Esprit (rue Roquepine, 5)
On se r^unira a la maison mortuaire :
— , rue de .
"Jesus lui dit : Je suis la resurrection
en la vie. Celui qui croit en moi vivra,
quand meme il serait mort."
St. Jean. Ch. xi., v. 25.
De la part de Messieurs Jules, Louis et Henri , ses
fils, Monsieur Henri , son gendre, et de tout la famille.
L'Inhumation aura lieu a (Seine en Oise).
134 CHURCH FOLKLORE.
I am told that in Scotland the neighbours are invited to
ordinary burials by a man who goes about with a bell, and
at certain stations announces the death of the person with
the name and his late place of abode The bell is also
tinkled before the funeral procession.
Some of my readers may not be aware of the derivation
of the word " funeral." The term is a thoroughly ancient
one, dating from heathen times. Pellicia in his " Polity of
the Christian Church" 1 tells us that among the Romans
the custom of carrying lighted torches at a funeral was so
very ancient that the word funus, "funeral," was itself
derived from the funales, a species of torch which was in
those old days carried in the funeral processions. Artificial
lights were necessary, as these ceremonies always took
place at night.
But Pellicia with all his erudition — perhaps because
of it- — does not go to the root of the matter, and explain
that the torches which were used at these functions in the
dark, were pieces of rope dipped in tar. It is, therefore,
from the Latin word, funis (a rope), that the word
" funeral " is derived.
There is a curious idea lingering in some places that,
when the death of a person is imminent, the fastening of
the doors of the room or house hinders painfully the de-
parture of the soul from the body. A few instances of this
may be worth noting.
A gentleman, writing forty years ago, stated that, when
he was a curate in Exeter, he called upon a parishioner who
was on his deathbed. The wife told him that she thought
her husband would have died during the previous night,
and that, consequently, she had unfastened every lock in
the house. 2
In a letter to Notes and Queries, March 30, 1850, C. B.
1 Bellett's translation, p. 558.
a Notes and Queries, March 16, 1850.
FUNERAL CUSTOMS. 135
says that in West Gloucestershire the people are accustomed
to throw open the windows at the moment of death.
Readers of the " Waverley Novels" will perhaps remember
that Sir Walter Scott, in " Guy Mannering," remarks that it
was held as certain, by the old people of Scotland, that the
protracted struggle between life and death was painfully
prolonged by keeping shut the door of the room in which
the dying person lay. 1
The idea which we are considering prevails, or did for-
merly prevail, in the north as well as in the west and south-
west of England. In partial connection with this custom,
it is interesting to note that the Jews at Gibraltar, on a
death occurring at any house, pour away all the water con-
tained therein on the supposition that the Angel of Death
may have washed his sword in it. 2
I have heard that, on the occasion of a death of a member
of a certain Jewish family in London some time back, all
the water in the house was run off. This may be a common
custom among the Jews here in England, but I have no
means of verifying it.
Here is a curious custom connected with death which,
although I am writing about English usages, may perhaps
be worth mentioning. When a child is dying, the people in
some parts of Holland are accustomed to shade it by the
curtains from the parents' gaze, the soul being supposed to
linger in the body so long as a compassionate eye was fixed
upon it. 3 Thus, in Germany, he who sheds a tear in lean-
ing over an expiring friend, and does not wipe it off, en-
hances, they consider, the difficulties of death's last struggle.
I believe that the same notion is introduced in the once
popular story, " Mary Barton : a Tale of Manchester Life."
In connection with this part of my subject, I may remark
1 Chapter xxvii., and note.
2 Notes and Queries, May 18, 1850.
*Ibid., Oct. 26, 1850.
I3 6 CHURCH FOLKLORE.
that not a few medical men of wide experience entertain a
strong conviction that the departure of the soul from the
body is a much more protracted operation than is commonly
supposed ; and some, I know, are of opinion that the mental
faculties of the patient, under ordinary circumstances, be-
come keener as the end approaches. It is quite possible
that this may be the case, and such possibility should
always be remembered by those who are in attendance upon
the dying, so that silence may be maintained for some few
minutes at least, and outward expressions of sorrow kept in
check, even when the spirit has apparently taken flight.
Of course I do not mean by this that any prayers that are
being said at the moment of the seeming departure should
cease — far from it. The very fact of the devotions being
continued may, for all we know, be of unspeakable comfort
to the departing soul.
There is a curious notion in some parts of the country
that a funeral procession must necessarily go " the way of
the sun." This, of course, is a remnant of Baal worship,
about which I shall speak when dealing later on with
heathen survivals. A gentleman, writing from Worksop,
tells us that in his neighbourhood it is considered very bad
luck if, when a body is taken to be buried, the funeral
procession goes to the churchyard by the way which will
make the party meet the sun in its course. They call this
" going the back way," and there are people who would do
almost anything at a funeral rather than not follow the
sun. In his "Folklore of the Northern Counties," Mr.
Henderson mentions this custom. 1
Let us now inquire as to the question of burial fees. I
have met with one or two curious facts in relation to them.
A paragraph in the Chester Courant of September 26th,
1863, refers to a custom which is probably peculiar to some
parts of Wales. An old man was charged at the Denbio-h
1 P. 61.
FUNERAL CUSTOMS. I 37
Police Court with having stolen three shillings from the
•communion table of the Parish Church, such money being
the offertory made at the burial of a deceased parishioner.
He confessed the theft, and was sentenced to three months'
imprisonment.
Mr. Alex. D. H. Leadham, F.S.A., of Boroughbridge, has
written to me to say that some five and twenty years ago
he was on a visit to the then curate of a parish near St.
Asaph, North Wales. One day there was a funeral there
which he attended. The service, wholly in Welsh, pro-
ceeded to the end of the lesson in the ordinary way. Then
the minister left the reading-desk, and instead of proceed-
ing to the grave, walked up to the altar, and read there the
two prayers which succeed the Lord's Prayer in the burial
■office, and then he opened a box fixed to the altar- rail.
Each mourner present left his seat, walked to the box, and
deposited in it some coin according to his means. The
remainder of the service was carried on at the grave side.
The curate told my informant that this custom of offering
money was very ancient in that church, and was supposed
to be a relic of the Roman doctrine of Purgatory. There
are no other burial fees in this parish save gratuities to
the clerk and sexton. After the service was over the men
mourners were each provided with a shovel, filled up the
grave, replaced the stone, and then joined the female
mourners, who had stood on one side while the grave was
being closed.
In many parishes in Wales, the clergyman receives no
burial fees, and the persons present lay their voluntary
offerings on the altar. As these have been regularly
•entered in the Parish Registers they form some guide as
to the esteem in which the several persons buried were held
by their neighbours. For instance, no less than 19s. 6d.
was contributed at the funeral of Mrs. Mary Hughes, who
•died at Aber in 1741 ; and the rector there has stated that
138 CHURCH FOLKLORE.
he once counted 85 sixpenny pieces on such an occasion.
On the other hand, one Martha Jones, of the same place,
was probably not popular with her neighbours, for a soli-
tary penny was all that the parson received for his.
services. 1
The burial offerings, however, were not always the per-
quisites of the clergyman, for in some places they used to
go, in case of poverty, to the family of the deceased. At-
tendance at a Welsh funeral is voluntary, and not by
invitation only. Everybody is supposed to put something
in the plate, and thus a nice little sum is sometimes
handed to the survivors. 2
In his "Ecclesiastical Law," the late Sir Robert Philli-
more states that in early times all fees for burial were for-
bidden as simoniacal. Then free offerings came to be made,,
and in the last stage custom introduced a regular fee. 3
At the beginning of the century it was the custom in
some parishes in Wales for the sexton to collect the offer-
ings on his spade at the grave side.
It is only now and then that we hear of gifts to the poor-
being distributed on the occasion of a funeral. One or two>
instances may be cited.
The Leeds Mercury gave the following account of what
took place at the funeral of Ladj^ William Gordon, October
10, 1841 : — " Her ladyship, with her accustomed liberality,
had by her will directed that her executors should distri-
bute to the poor at Temple Newsam and the neighbourhood
the sum of a thousand pounds upon the occasion of her
interment. This was done as soon as the ceremonial was.
completed and the family had retired. A committee, con-
sisting of the Rev. A. Martineau, Vicar of Whitkirk, Mr.
Leather, Messrs. Clarke, and several of the principal in-
1 Notes and Queries, April 9, 1804.
- Ibid., May 7, 1864.
1 Vol. i., p. 840.
FUNERAL CUSTOMS. 139
habitants, had previously met on several occasions to con-
sider the mode of distributing the fund so as to insure its
falling among those who were most needy and deserving.
It was divided into sums varying from £1 to £10, according
to the family, respectable conduct, and other circumstances
of the object contemplated, the whole being distributed in
gold."
I do not know that there is any very striking liberality
in giving away money after one is dead and cannot
use it oneself ; but it is at least better than having it
buried with one, as has been done. Thus, about the middle
of last century, an old grave was opened at Wilmington,
near Dartford, and a number of coins of Henry IV.'s reign
were discovered within. 1
The following account of a lady's charitable bequest I
like better than the one given above. Mrs. Mary Harries,
nee Lysons, widow, left a sum of money to the parish of
Hemsted, Gloucester, to apprentice boys, and to provide
a certain number of poor women with cloaks. She further
stipulated that on the anniversary of her death (June 27),
there should be full morning service with sermon and Holy
Communion. The rector tells me that a guinea is paid from
the " Harries charity " to the officiating clergyman for this
duty, and also a fee to the clerk.
A bequest of quite a different type is recorded in Tit-Bits
of April 28, 1888. It appears that Mr. Thomas Tuke, of
Wath, near Rotherham, dying in 1810, bequeathed a penny
to every child who should be present at his funeral. As a
result the churchyard walks were literally lined with
children to the number of 600 or 700, and their pennies
were duly distributed to them there.
He also bequeathed a shilling to every poor woman in
Wath, whilst to his own daughter he only bequeathed the
miserable pittance of four guineas per annum. To an old
1 Gentleman's Magazine (1747), p. 265.
140 CHURCH FOLKLORE.
woman who had nursed him and attended to his every want
for eleven years, he bequeathed the not very munificent sum
of one guinea, for, as the will expressed it, " tucking me up
in bed."
He also ordered forty dozen penny buns to be thrown
from the church tower at noon on Christmas-day for ever,
leaving a sum of money for the purpose. For some years
the buns were distributed in accordance with the will ; but
eventually, owing to the conduct of the crowd which an-
nually assembled, only six dozen were thrown from the
tower, the remainder being quietly given away below.
There are some very curious ideas lingering in certain
localities as to the times when deaths occur, and how they
affect the future. Thus, for example, at Stanway in
Gloucestershire it is believed that if a burial occurs on
New Year's Day it will be followed by one in each month
of the year. The population of the parish is under three
hundred, and the usual average of deaths is six a year.
The Rev. Francis R. Traill, who sends me the above
information, adds, that if a corpse lies unburied over a
Sunday, the people feel sure that there will be another
death in the parish within a month. In the northern
counties a similar notion prevails amongst some of the
country people. Their idea is, that if a funeral takes place
on a Sunday, especially if on that day the grave should
have been opened, three persons will be interred within a
very short space of time.
This, perhaps, will be as good a place as any for record-
ing a very remarkable custom which prevailed up to the
seventeenth century. There was in one of the villages
adjoining the Welsh border, an old man called the " Sin
Eater," and his office was, for a trifling consideration, to
pawn his own soul for the ease and rest of the soul de-
parted. When a person died, notice was given to him, and
he at once went to the house of the deceased. A cricket,
FUNERAL CUSTOMS. 141
i.e. a stool, was brought, and he sat down in front of the
door. A groat, a crust of bread, and a full bowl of ale,
were given to him, after which he rose and pronounced the
ease and rest of the soul departed, for which he would
pawn his own soul. It was believed that this ceremony-
would free the departed soul from " walking " thenceforth.
It is probable that this strange custom was originally con-
nected in some way with the ceremony of the Scape Goat
under the Law (Lev. xvi., 21). I believe that the institu-
tion of the Sin Eater was, in later times, mainly confined to
the county of Hereford, but there is reason to believe that
it once prevailed generally in Wales.
In olden time, very queer things were sometimes put in
graves. Thus I find that in digging the grave of one Mr.
William Clements, in Nockhold Churchyard, in Kent, there
were found, deep in the earth, several rolls of brimstone.
What this could mean I am not able to guess, but there is,
at least, a very disagreeable suggestiveness about it.
Equally difficult of explanation were the objects which
were discovered in 1727, in the grave of a reputed hermit
near Hatfield in Yorkshire. These were, a peck of hemp-
seed and a piece of beaten copper. In the early part of
this century, the church of Old Swinford in Worcester-
shire had to be removed, which involved the disturbance
of certain of the coffins in the churchyard. In one of these
the body of a lady was found, fully dressed in ancient
costume, and an enormous number of pins were in her
dress and lying strewed about. 1
I have found the following item in so many antiquarian
records, that I fancy it must be pretty generally known to
those who are interested in such matters. About the
middle of the last century, when the churchyard at.
Clerkenwell had to be disturbed, a coffin was discovered, in
1 Gentleman's Magazine (1834), p. 592.
142 CHURCH FOLKLORE.
which was found an hour-glass. The meaning of this is
obvious enough. It was supposed, at the time of its dis-
interment, that the coffin had not been in tbe ground more
than a hundred years. The first notice of this that I have
met with is in the Gentleman's Magazine}
Dr. Doran, in his book, " Saints and Sinners," 2 tells us
that the famous medical knight, Sir William Brown, who
died in Queen Square, Westminster, had, in accordance
with the provision of bis will, his pocket Elzevir " Horace "
placed in his coffin and buried with him, as having been
" the pleasant and useful companion of my way and life."
Here is a curious example of what we are considering.
Not so many years ago, on the occasion of a child's funeral
in Hertfordshire, a Bible, a key, and a glass were placed
within the coffin. 3
I may, perhaps, be excused for mentioning a personal
experience akin to this. When assistant curate at St.
Mary Magdalene's, Munster Square, I attended, ministerially,
a poor young girl during her last illness. In view of her
death, she asked her mother to put into her coffin some of
the trities to which she was attached, such as her work-
box, etc. One of the things was my photograph, which she
had once begged of me. When I gave it to the child I
certainly had no idea that I was destined to be buried
prematurely. It is more than thirty years since this
occurred.
While writing the above paragraph, I happened to
mention its contents to my housekeeper, who entered the
room, and she at once said that she remembered a man
who used to get his living in the neighbourhood of Alton,
Hants, by playing the fiddle at village frolics. When
death approached, he made a request that his violin might
1 1746, p. 640.
2 Vol. i., p. 261.
3 _ Notes and Queries, Oct. 13, 1877.
FUNERAL CUSTOMS. 143
be buried with him, which was, I believe, done. There is a
romantic story in the early part of Mr. and Mrs. Bancroft's
memoirs, in which an early admirer of the lady had asked
lier for a broken necklace of imitation pearls, which she
had worn when he first saw her on the stage, and which, at
his request, was put in his coffin.
Everybody knows, that according to the rule of the
English Church, children who die unbaptised, are disquali-
fied for ordinary Christian burial. The late Canon Humble
has left on record his experiences as to how such burials
were managed in his early days. He says : — " When I was
curate at Newburn in Northumberland the custom was to
bring the coffin of an unbaptised babe with that of a full-
grown person. The child's coffin was always laid on the
other coffin towards the i'eet, and so rested while the
service was being said. There was generally a receptacle
for it in the grave towards the feet, made by widening the
grave at that point." I imagine that this custom was a very
general one.
A rather curious usage has been reported to me by a
lady, writing from Swansea. She says that at St. John's
Priory Church, Brecknock, when a funeral took place on
a Sunday the coffin was brought to church immediately be-
fore the Second Lesson, the clergyman meeting it at the
door, and reading the sentences as he returned up the
church. It was then placed on a bier in front of the read-
ing-desk until the end of the evening service, the lesson in
the Burial Service being substituted for the appointed
Second Lesson. I have been told that the same custom
was in olden times followed in the church at Shoreham in
Sussex.
Here is an odd request made by a dying woman. A lady
at Clifton has been good enough to send me a copy of a
memorandum on the fly-leaf of a funeral sermon preached
144 CHURCH FOLKLORE.
on May 3, 1840, at Tidcombe, Wilts, by her father, the
Rev. Robert Cole, at that time incumbent of the parish.
The words ran thus : — " This sermon now is only of use
in the event of an occasion similar to that upon which it
was made. The occasion alluded to was this : — A request
made to me by Mary Wheeler, a single woman, aged 70,,
who was a native of Tidcombe, and a noted person for her
devotedness to the Church, and to everything thereto per-
taining. She desired to be dressed and put into her coffin,
having on the same ' white robe ' that she was accustomed
to wear in church all her life, and especially at Holy
Communion."
It is well-known that formerly there was a law in
England which ordered that all persons should be buried in
woollen. The Acts of Parliament, 30 Car. II. cap. 3, and
32, cap. 1, relate to this. An infringement of this law en-
tailed upon the offender a penalty of £5, and an affidavit
was required in each case of burial to show that the law
had been carried out. There is an item in the church-
wardens' accounts in the parish of Prestwick, Manchester,
in 1861, to this effect : — ■" Received a fine of James
Crompton ffor buringe his son, and not bringinge an affi-
davitte according to the Acte for burying in woollin.
02. 10. 00." 1 In the churchwarden's accounts under date
March 28, 1811, show an entry : — " Received a moiety of
the penalty of Mr. Christie being buried in linen. £2.
10. 0."
The law was very unpopular, as is evident from Pope's
lines in one of his " Moral Essays," 2 where he represents
Nance Oldfield the actress, under the name of Narcissa, as
saying : —
1 Notes and Queries, June 5, 1852.
" Essay i., line 240.
FUNERAL CUSTOMS. 145
" Odious, in woollen, 'twould a saint provoke,
Were the last words that poor Narcissa spoke.
No, let a charming chintz or Brussels lace
Wrap my cold limbs and shade my lifeless face.
One would not, sure, be frightful when one's dead,
And, Betty, give this cheek a little red."
The statute was repealed by 54 George III., c. 108.
The law was sometimes evaded in an ingenious way,
Mr. J. E. Bayley, of Stratford, near Manchester, has stated
that during the time that the Act was in force, corpses
were sometimes covered simply with hay or flowers, a noti-
fication of which is sometimes found in parish registers.
He adds: — "The materials are hereabouts called 'strew-
ings.' I find in the register of an adjoining parish : —
' Buryed in sweet flowers only.' " J
In other cases it is said that the bodies were not wound
or buried, saving only in sweet flowers and hay. Affidavits
were made to that effect.
There was a custom among fashionable people in the last
century to have funerals at night and by torch-light. In
the list of fees in the parish of St. John's, Westminster, we
find that an extra charge of five shillings was prescribed
for all interments taking place at night. It was then
usual for the body to lie in state surrounded with wax
candles. Mr. J. E. Smith, in his history of St. John the
Evangelist, Westminster, tells us that torch-light funerals
to which Pope refers in the lines —
" When Hopkins dies, a thousand lights attend
The wretch who living saved a candle's end,"
were continued at St. John's till late in the last century.
As many as thirty men were employed to assist at one of
these dismal pomps, and more than half a hundredweight
1 Notes and Queries, August 19, 1876.
I46 CHURCH FOLKLORE.
of wax candles, which then cost three shillings a pound,
were used in one procession. It was also considered a
breach of decorum for any mourner to appear at a funeral
without a sprig of rosemary. As to pauper funerals, the
vestry ordered that a cloth pall, not velvet, should be used,
and that it should bear upon it the words, " Buried at the
expence of the parish." This stigma, says Mr. Smith, was
removed in 1807.
As regards the question of coffins, no doubt Mr. Seymour
Haden has rendered a public service by introducing the
use of quickly perishing wicker coffins, in place of heavy
and costly wooden ones, which are long in going to decay.
And this chiefly from sanitary considerations in view of
our rapidly increasing population and our crowded grave-
yards. But surely a simpler plan would be to go back to
our old English fashion of burying our departed friends in
a, winding-sheet as was formerly the custom, and, I may
add, is still the custom when a burial takes place at sea.
Certain items appear in the overseer's books of the parish
of St. Margaret's, Westminster, relating to what must have
been uncoffined burials. Thus : —
" 1562. Item — for the chardge of a winding-sheete for
a poure woman which died in Thambre [The Ambry], xiid.
" Item — for bringing of straw from Mr. Worleyes for the
deceased girle aforesaid, for making cleane of the house,
for her winding-sheete, and burieing of her, xvd.
" 1566. For a winding-sheete, and for the burial of a
poure olde man dieing in the street, ijs. vid."
In the " Table of Dutyes," in Shoreditch Church, dated
Dec. 11th, 1664, the following items occur: —
" For a buryall in ye new churchyard without a coffin,
£00 00 08.
FUNERAL CUSTOMS. 147
" For a buryall in ye old churchyard without a coffin,
sevenpence. ... CO 00 07.
" For the grave making and attendance of the vicar and
clerke on the enterment of a corps uncoffined, the church-
wardens to pay the ordinary duteys (and no more) of this
table."
The Rev. J. Deans, Melbourne, Derbyshire, states that
in the register books of his parish, which date back to
1663, is an item to the effect that Ann Dolman was buried
in a coffin, and that four others were also buried in coffins
up to March 11th following, making five out of the whole
seventeen buried in that year. The custom of using coffins
for others than wealthy people appears to have begun
about this time, but not to have made much progress, for,
in 1698, there is only one burial in a coffin mentioned out
of seventeen funerals, and none at all in 10 99 out of ten.
From this time, however, the number of coffins increased,
so that in 1714 there were only two burials without coffins
out of thirteen interments. In 1718, the vicar, who had
been very careful in keeping the registers, died. Of the
last eight entries of burials by him, two were without
coffins, the last being dated Sept. 21st, 1718.
Persons of position were sometimes in those days buried
like poorer folk. Thus in the case of the interment of Sir
Robert and Lady Harding no exception appears to have
been made. 1
J. H. M. (presumably J. H. Markland) states that George
P.salmanazer, the notorious literary forger, who died in
1753, earnestly requested that his body should not be in-
closed in any kind of coffin, but be decently laid in a shell
without a lid or other covering. The writer also says that
amongst the memorials of a distinguished West of England
family the following occurs: — "April 30, 1701, died Sir
1 Meliquanj, vol. i., p. 19. (July, 1860.)
148 CHURCH FOLKLORE.
N L , at his house in H , and was buried in the
outer chancel of the said church on the 3rd of May, at 12 of
the clock at night, without a coffin, according to his own
directions. He was then in his 88th year. " 1
A passage in Dean Comber's "Companion to the Temple,"
bears by inference upon the custom of uncoffined burials.
He was Dean of Durham in 1691 :— " The ancient Christians
were wont to give a parting kiss of charity to the body
just when it was about to be put into the grave, to declare
their affection, and to evidence that he died in the unity
and peace of the Church, for which still we say, ' Our dear
brother or sister,' which pious custom is yet observed in the
Greek Church, and also in the northern parts of England
by the near relations, who usually come near and kiss the
deceased before he be put in the grave.''
It is possible that some may not have noticed that the
Burial Service in the Book of Common Prayer is worded
on the apparent supposition that no coffin is employed.
The word coffin is not used ; it is always " the corpse," or
" the body." Thus : — " When they come to the grave, while
the corpse is made ready to be laid into the earth," etc. ;
upon which rubric Wheatley, whose well-known book
appeared in 1710, comments thus : — " When the body is
stripped of all but its grave clothes, and is just going to be
put into the grave," etc. 2 And again, in a subsequent
rubric it is enjoined that " earth shall be cast upon the
body," not upon the coffin.
At Easingwold in Yorkshire there is an old oaken shell
which was formerly used for conveying the bodies of
parishioners to the churchyard. The Rev. N. Jackson,
vicar of the parish, has been good enough to send me a
description of it, which, I understand, was published in The
Reliquary, July, 1864. The shell is still preserved in the
church.
1 Notes and Queries, November 17, 1855. - Chapter xii. , sec. 5
FUNERAL CUSTOMS. I49
" The central length is 6 ft. 7 in. ; length of side from
shoulder to head, 1 ft. 5 in. ; width at foot, 9 in. The lid
was originally fixed to the shell by three iron hinges on
the right hand side of the body, one at the foot, another at
the shoulders, and a third midway between the other two.
It is somewhat larger than the shell itself, having over-
lapped the top about three quarters of an inch on the left
side (where it seems to have had some fastenings which
have been taken off) and at the head and foot. The lid is
now split down the centre, the two parts being held to-
gether by five rough iron bands, one near the head, another
near the foot, and the remaining three at nearly equal dis-
tances from them and from each other. The corners have
also been protected in a similar manner. The sides are 9
in. in height, and on both of them at 7 in. from the shoulder
and 30 in. from the foot are iron rings about an inch and a
half in diameter. All the iron seems to have been very
rough, but is now so much rusted as to leave its original
condition a matter of some doubt. The cofEn is of oak,
very black with age, much decayed, and the wood exceed-
ingly thin. It apparently stood on four legs, there being
four circular holes in the bottom — one at the head, one at
the foot, and two across the centre, and in the bottom one
a very small part of the leg remains, it having probably
been broken off, while the rest were knocked out.''
On the same authority I learn that no living person re-
members the shell being used, but there is a tradition that
the last time it was employed was for a vagrant found
dead and corrupting by the road side.
A public coffin was formerly kept for use at Youghal,
County Cork. It was stored in a recessed aperture in one
of the old town walls which inclose the cemetery. 1
And while speaking of coffins provided for the use of
poor folk, I may mention, in passing, that a Roman Catholic
1 JReliquary, July, 1864.
ISO CHURCH FOLKLORE.
clergyman at a recent public meeting in Dublin stated that
fifty or sixty years ago, if the poor Irish could not afford a
coffin it was not uncommon for the family to place the
corpse in front of the house, with a pewter plate on the
breast to receive donations of passers-by. I took this item
from a report of the meeting in some newspaper, but I re-
gret to say that I neglected to append a reference at the
time, and I quite forget the source of my information.
A curious fact, bearing upon the part of our subject
above dealt with, appears in the Journal of the Archce-
logical Association? The Rev. J. T. Williams describes a
number of old interments inside the church of Penmynydd,
Anglesea. The bodies were close to the surface, with here
and there a thin layer of lime over the body. There was
no trace of a coffin, but with each body was a round white
stone about the size of a moderate potato, and at the south
end of the chancel arch was buried a heap of the same kind
of stories. Mr. Williams suggests that this may refer to
Eev. ii. 17, which runs thus: — "To him that overcometh
will I give ... a white stone, and in the stone a new name
written, which no man knoweth saving he that receiveth
it."
In olden days the bodies of deceased persons were some-
times buried in an erect position. Thus in the north
transept of Stanton Harcourt Church, Oxfordshire, is the
burial-place of the Harcourt family. Tradition relates that
Sir John Harcourt, who died in 1330, was buried here in a
standing posture. In the pavement above is a circular
stone in which is inlaid a shield of brass bearing the family
arms. 2
At the close of the last century one Job. Orton, an inn-
keeper, left instructions that he should be buried in an
1 Vol. xvi., p. 325.
2 Notes and Queries, No. 194, 1853.
FUNERAL CUSTOMS. 151
erect posture, and it is said that his wishes were complied
with. The man's motive was the hope that he would rise
before his wife, who was interred in the ordinary fashion. 1
Ben Jonson was so buried in Westminster Abbey, the
supposition being that this was to avoid the large fee de-
manded for a full-sized grave. For a long time it was sup-
posed that the story was invented to account for the small-
ness of the gravestone. The grave, however, was opened
some fifty years ago, and the dramatist's remains were dis-
covered in the attitude indicated by tradition. 2
In the first canto of " The White Doe of Eylstone,"
Wordsworth refers to erect burials thus : —
" Pass, pass, who will, yon chantry door,
And through the chink in the fractured floor,
Look down, and see a grisly sight,
A vault where the bodies are buried upright ;
There face to face, or hand to hand,
The Claphams and Mauleverers stand."
This relates to a tradition respecting the vault of the
Claphams at the east end of the north aisle of Bolton Priory
Church.
Akin to this, it may be noted that when Charlemagne's
tomb at Aix-la-Chapelle was opened by the Emperor
Frederic Barbarossa, in 1165, he is said to have found the
body not reclining in his coffin, but seated on a throne as
one alive, clothed in imperial robes, bearing his sceptre in
his hand, and on his knees a copy of the Gospels.
About the strangest kind of burial that I have come
across in my researches is one chronicled in the register of
Lymington Church, Hants, where the following appears
under the year 1736 : —
1 Notes and Queries, No. 194, 1853.
2 Ibid., No. 110, 1853.
152 CHURCH FOLKLORE.
"Samuel Baldwin, Esquire, sojourner in this parish, was
immersed without the needles, sans ciremonie, May, 20." ]
It seems that shortly before his death Mr. Baldwin in-
timated his desire to be buried at sea, in order to disap-
point the frequently expressed intention of his wife, that
if she survived him she would, out of contempt for him,
dance on his grave. There is a delicate vein of humorous
irony conveyed in the husband's dying request, which, I
should think, had rarely been equalled on such an occasion.
Tradition says that Mr. Charles Byrne, the famous Irish
giant, who died towards the close of the last century,
urgently requested that he might be buried at sea in order
to escape the hands of the surgeons. This, however, was
not done, for his skeleton, measuring seven feet eight
inches, is now in the Museum of the College of Surgeons.
It is said that William Hunter purchased the body, giving
£500 for it.
The desire of some to be buried at sea rather than in the
earth is not without examples in our own day. Thus I
find that 2 : —
" Miss Hewitt, head mistress of the Girls' High School at
Napier, New Zealand, was recently taken out in a steamer
several miles to sea and buried at night there. She had
left this in her will as an alternative to cremation, fearing
that there might be no means for the latter, and being
averse to burial in the earth."
There have been, and I believe still are, some odd ideas
as to the position in the churchyard in which people like
to be buried. The popular idea is well illustrated by what
a lady tells me is the usage at Morchard Bishop in North
1 "Hone's Table Book," col. 413.
2 Tit-Bits, July 23, 1892.
FUNERAL CUSTOMS. 153
Devon. She says that there was, and perhaps is, a popular
prejudice against burial on the north side of the church,
■and that the graves of strangers are usually situated there.
It has been suggested that the reason why the south
side of the churchyard was preferred was — (1) because the
churchyard cross was always placed there ; (2) because it
was the sunny side ; and (3) because the south door was
generally the principal entrance, and consequently the
tombs were more in the sight of relatives and friends. 1
This explanation must be taken just for what it is worth.
More valuable, albeit more fanciful to most minds, is the
opinion of that very able and thoughtful man, the late
Rev. R. S. Hawker, vicar of Morwenston, Devonshire, who
says, " The doctrine of regions was coeval with the death of
•our Lord. The east was the realm of the oracles, the especial
throne of God. The west was the domain of the people ;
the Galilee of all nations was there. The south, the land of
mid-day, was sacred to things heavenly and divine, The
north was the devoted region of Satan and his hosts, the
lair of demons and their haunts." In some of our ancient
•churches, over against the font, and in the northern wall,
there is a devil's door. It was thrown open at every
baptism for the escape of the fiend, and at all other seasons
carefully closed. Hence came the old dislike to sepulture
at the north. 2
Milton, in the sixth book of " Paradise Lost," appears to
allude to the same idea as to the evil character of the
northern aspect. Thus : —
"At last
Far in the horizon to the north appeared,
From skirt to skirt, a fiery region stretched
In battailous aspect, and nearer view-
Bristled with upright beams innumerable
1 Notes and Queries, August 17, 1850.
2 Ibid., September 14, 1850.
I 54 CHURCH FOLKLORE.
Of rigid spears, and helmets throng'd, and shields
Various, with boastful argument portray'd,
And banded powers of Satan hasting on
With furious expedition, for they ween'd
That selfsame day, by fight, or by surprise,
To win the mount of God."
Everybody knows that graves are ordinarily dug facing
in their length east and west. Exceptions, however, may
be found. For example, Mr. James R Scott, F.S.A., states,
that in some country churchyards, as at Cowden in Kent,
and East and West Bergholt in Suffolk, there are graves
that face north and south, and he suggests that they are
those of suicides. 1 My friend, Mr. J. T. Micklethwaite,
F.S.A., remarks that they are more probably the graves in
which Dissenters have been buried. This, I think, is pro-
bable enough, as Dissenters are commoner than suicides.
But as regards the burial of suicides, until 1823 the-
body of the self-murderer was directed to be buried in a.
cross road, with a stake driven through his body. It is,,
however, the way in which their graves were formerly
treated that we have now more especially to consider. As
to this point I may give a quotation from a curious letter
from the Rev. Mr. Watkins to Dr. Lyttleton, formerly
Bishop of Carlisle, which is given by a correspondent to-
the Gentleman's Magazine. The letter is dated from
Gethly, May 14, 1763, and the passage runs thus : — " We
have here a custom to this day for every passenger to
throw a stone over the grave of such wretches as are
buried in the cross roads, with the following curse, ' Yn
Garn y bo ti,' i.e. ' May such villains be buried under a
heap of stones ; ' ' Garn ' in the British signifying ' a heap-
of stones.' These heaps are very common, and are looked
upon as the highest marks of infamy. The custom is very
ancient. We read in 2 Samuel xviii. 17, ' And they took
1 Notes and Queries, March 13, 1880.
FUNERAL CUSTOMS. 155
Absalom, and cast him into a great pit in the wood, and
laid a very great heap of stones upon him.' "
Dr. Patrick's comment on this verse quotes Andricomius'
description of the Holy Land, where he says that travellers
as they went by this heap of stones were wont to throw a
stone to add to the heap, in detestation of their rebellion.
One of the most horrid curses among the Welsh to this
day is " Yn Garn y bo ti." 1
There are some very curious notes upon funerals
as they were " conducted " in the sixteenth century, in
Henry Machyn's diary, the original of which is in the
British Museum. I have already quoted from this MS.,
and it seems right to account for the gaps in my extracts.
The fact is that this MS. was one of the volumes which
suffered in the fire which occurred years ago in the Cottonian
Library at the Museum. Fortunately the edges only were
burnt, and very little important matter was destroyed.
The words or letters in brackets are conjectural insertions
by Mr. John Gough Nichols, F.S.A., who superintended the
reprint of the volume for the Camden Society in 1848.
The period over which the diary ranges is from 1550 to
1563, which of course includes part of Edward VI.'s reign,
the whole of Mary's, and part of Elizabeth's.
In Machyn's days the Lord Mayors of London seem to
have been somewhat greater people than they are now, if
one may judge from the pomp with which funerals of
members of their family were conducted. Here is an ac-
count of a funeral of a lady mayoress in 1550 : —
" The xix day of November was bured my lady Jude,
Ma[yress] of London, and wyffe of Sir Andrew Jude, Mayr
of London, and burred in the parry che of Saint Ellen in
Bysshope Gatt Stret, for he gayff mony gownes, and to the
powre men and women ij c gownes of mantyll . . . and
1 Gentleman's Magazine (1773), pp. 179, 180.
156 CHURCH FOLKLORE.
the Clarkes of London had the berying of my lade, and
then came . . . with ij harolds afore with iiij baners a-
bowt her borne, and after my [Lord] May re and ys bredurne,
and alle the stret, and the chyrche wher hangyd with blake,
and with schoehyons of thir armes, and a gret dolle, and a
gret [dinner]."
As to the ceremonial at the funerals of people of " quality,"
there does not seem to have been any great difference be-
tween the usage under Edward VI. and his elder sister
Mary, when, upon her brother's death, she came to the
throne. Machyn records the funeral of Bishop Gardiner
in the following words : —
" The xiiij of November be-gane the knyll for the most
ryght reverent Father in God, my lord chaunseler of
England, doctor Sthevyn Gardiner, byshope of Wynchastur,
and of the prevy consell with Kyng Henry the viiith, and
unto Quen Mare, Quen of England ; and with a hersee of
iiij branchys, with gylt candyllstykes ; and ij whytt
branchys, and iij dosen of stayffes-torchys, and all the
qwyre hangyd with blake and armes, and a durge songe ;
and the morow masse of requiem and doctur Why t, bysshope
of Lynkolne dyd pryche at the sam masse ; and after all
they whent to his plasse to diner.''
Take next the account of the burial of an ordinary
London citizen in Machyn 's days ; this time during the
reign of Elizabeth : —
" The xxiv day of Aprell (1560) was bered at Sant Mary
Mayd : Master Hansley, a grocer, and he had a dossen of
skochyons of arms, and there was the masturs of the
Compane of the Grocers, and prestes and clarkes synging,
Master Juelle, the byshope of Salbere (Salisbury) dyd pryche
FUNERAL CUSTOMS. 1 57
and he gayff gownes unto pore men ; and there was at
this berehyng all the masters of (the) hospitille with ther
gren stayffes in ther handes."
I find that at and after this period, when any member of
one of the city companies died, it was the custom for a
large number of his brethren to follow his body to the
grave.
A few notes as to the ceremonies with which royal per-
sonages and the nobility were buried in the last century
may be interesting. We are told that the body of the
Queen of George II. was buried at Westminster Abbey on
the night of December 17, 1737. At the door of the
church the body was met by the dean and prebendaries,
with the masters, scholars, and choir belonging to the same,
and the choir of the Chapel Royal attending in their proper
habits, with wax tapers in their hands, and the dean and
prebendaries in their copes. 1
At the funeral of Frederick, Prince of Wales, at West-
minster Abbey, April 13, 1751, the body was met at the
church door by the dean and prebendaries, attended by the
gentlemen of the choir and the King's scholars, who fell
into the procession immediately after the officer of arms,
with wax tapers in their hands, and properly habited, and
began the proper burial service (no anthem being composed
for the occasion). Two drums beat a dead march during
the service. 2
The use of copes, and of tapers carried in procession,
presumably lighted, seems to have been general at grand
funerals in the last century. These things would, I imagine,
be regarded as an extreme " ritualistic " novelty now.
At the funeral of George II. in the Abbey, the corpse,
we are told, was received at the entrance of the church by
1 Gentleman's Magazine, December, 1737.
2 Ibid., (1755), p. 184.
158 CHURCH FOLKLORE.
the dean and prebendaries in their copes, attended by the
choir, all having wax tapers in their hands. 7
The higher orders of the nobility seem to have had rather
grand funerals in the earlier part of the last century.
Here is an instance.
When John Sheffield, Duke of Buckingham, was buried
in January, 1736, the body was carried in an open chariot,
the effigies in armour lying on the coffin, and two of his
grace's officers of the bedchamber sitting at the head and
feet, in close mourning, bareheaded. The procession was
received at Westminster Abbey by the dean and chapter
in their copes, and the whole choir in their surplices, sing-
ing before the corpse. 2
In the course of my investigations I have not come upon
much matter bearing upon the use of funeral palls in olden
times, save incidentally. That they were used is evident, but
I am not in a position to say to what extent they were
employed. I find, however, that in the middle of the last
century the " Poer's Pall " at Weston Flavel in the diocese
of Peterborough is spoken of as if it were an ordinary
church ornament. 3
There is one item in the ceremonial prescribed by the
rubric in the Book of Common Prayer which has already
been referred to on page 148, concerning which I think it
well to say something. I mean the order for earth to be
cast upon the body when the words, " Earth to earth, ashes
to ashes," etc., are recited, after the corpse has been lowered
into the grave. I learn that at Winwick in South Lanca-
shire everyone who assists at the funeral, even quite little
children, join in doing this, and the custom seems to be a
thoroughly religious one, which should be preserved where
it is practised.
1 Gentleman's Magazine, November 17, 1760.
2 Ibid., (1736), p. 54.
3 Ibid., (1760), p. 380.
FUNERAL CUSTOMS. 1 59
And this is a suitable place for recording an excellent
usage which the Rev. C. E. Bowden of Edinburgh notifies
to me, and which I wish was everywhere followed in
places south of the Tweed. He says, " that in Scotland it
is the custom for the mourners to wait at the grave side
until it is filled up. Then they and the grave-diggers raise
their hats and leave."
It has always struck me as more than a mistake for the
relatives and friends of a deceased person to leave the filling
up of the grave to mere hireling labourers, who, as likely
as not, are surrounded by a lot of thoughtless and irreverent
boys, and all sorts of abominations may go on. Some
friend of the family at least ought to stop by the grave
and to see that decency is observed.
By the way, there is an Irish custom in connection with
funerals which is worth notice, and this seems a suitable
place at which to introduce it. The Hector of Waterville,
County Kerry, states " that it is the custom amongst his
Protestant parishioners, when a coffin is about to be placed
in the grave, to draw out all the nails which secure the lid,
and which are only partially driven in. The convenience
of the deceased at the day of the Resurrection is given as
Perhaps I ought to have spoken about " wakes " before
describing the ceremonies connected with the actual
interment. The subject will, however, come in very well
here.
When we speak of " wakes" nowadays, we generally con-
sider that they apply only to Ireland and the Irish. Few
probably know what the custom signifies.
I believe I am right in saying that the idea of " waking"
or " watching " by the side of a body originated in days
when medical science was undeveloped, and was intended
1 Notes and Queries, Feb. 28, 1880.
160 CHURCH FOLKLORE.
to test whether the person watched were really dead or
only in a swoon. In course of time this praiseworthy cus-
tom degenerated, and the watch or wake was used as an
occasion of festivity. In Hazlitt's edition of Brand's
" Popular Antiquities " we have the following : —
Pennant, in describing Highland ceremonies, says : —
" The late wake is a ceremony used at funerals. The even-
ing after the death of any person, the relations and friends
of the deceased meet at the house attended by a bagpipe or
fiddle. The nearest of kin, be it wife, son, or daughter,
opens a melancholy ball, dancing and greeting — i.e. crying
violently at the same time, and this continues till daylight,
but with such frolics and gambols among the younger part
of the company If the corpse remain unburied
for two nights, the same rites are renewed." 1
In this last century a similar usage was followed in Wales ;
but so far as I can gather the watching was accompanied
with observances somewhat more religious than those above
mentioned.
I have been favoured with a printed copy of a very
interesting paper which was read by the Rev. N. F. Y.
Kemble at the Carlisle Diocesan Conference in 1875. It
deals with funeral customs in Cumberland and Westmore-
land. Instead of breaking it up and intercalating my own
matter with isolated portions of it, I have thought it better
to introduce it as it stands, merely omitting a paragraph
here and there as unnecessary in this volume, however well
suited for the occasion on which it was originally delivered.
Some of the notes will be found to overlap portions of the
subject already dealt with. Mr. Kemble says : —
"It was the universal, and is now the occasional practice, while the
corpse remains in the house decently prepared for burial, for relations
1 Yol.iL,p. 167.
FUNERAL CUSTOMS. I&I
and friends to keep watch by it during the night, having candles,
alight during the dark hours.
" Along the Fell sides, within the memory of the living, a funeral
dole of sixpence was given to every poor person visiting the house be-
tween the death and the interment.
" Canon Porteus, to whom I am indebted for many interesting par-
ticulars and some valuable suggestions, informs me that the last dole
given at Warcop was in 1812 ; but I learn that at Crosby Ravensworth
the custom still holds. A dole of sixpence being occasionally given
there at the grave to each poor person present.
"This custom is to be traced to Roman Catholic times, and doubt-
less originated with a desire to procure prayers for the dead. It is
mentioned by Froude as one of the requests in Henry VIlI.'s will as
given for this purpose.
" Funeral cakes, costing threepence or fourpence each, consisting of
two layers of paste with currants between, used very generally to be
given at the house before the burial ; but this practice of sending
funeral cakes, once so common, though still kept up in a few remote
country districts, seems to have died out entirely in our towns and
larger parishes.
" There is a custom in some places — it prevailed at Sebergham
when I was incumbent there — to give to each person who attends at
the house on the day of the funeral a small piece of rich cake, care-
fully wrapped up in white paper and sealed. This with a glass of
wine or spirits used, I remember, to be carried round immediately
before the lifting of the corpse. Each visitor took more or less of the
wine or spirits, returning at once the glass to its place on the tray, and
then selecting one of the sealed packets, carried it unopened home.
I often tried to discover the meaning of this usage, but nobody
seemed able to enlighten me. I believe, however, that the piece of
cake, carefully hidden out of sight and sealed, was symbolical of the
dead body about to be covered up and secured in the grave, and that
the breaking of the seal and bringing the piece of cake to light again
at some future day — which of course was expected to happen — was
significant of the resurrection of the buried body.
"A curious custom may be mentioned as existing in not a few
places, viz. that of the clerk singing by himself a hymn outside the
door previous to the moving of the procession. This singing of a.
162 CHURCH FOLKLORE.
hymn by the clerk as a solo in presence of the company produces too
often an effect more ludicrous than edifying, and is a practice which
many of us would wish to see discontinued.
"Some of us, perhaps, have felt scandalised at the retention of hats,
by the mourners only, during the procession, and within the house of
God, whether kneeling or sitting around the coffin, where it is usual
to deposit it inside the church. I am at a los3 even to conjecture the
significance of this custom ; but I am disposed to believe that nothing
disrespectful is intended by it. Setting it down to inadvertence or
irreverence, I once declined to proceed with the service until all hats
were removed, and after a moment's hesitation this was done, and
when my wishes were understood, the practice was notjpersisted in.
I can see no object in retaining a fashion of this kind, which, from one
point of view, is objectionable, because unscriptural, and from no point
of view defensible.
" It cannot, I think, be denied that there exists amongst us a strong
feeling of respect for the dead, as evidenced, amongst other signs, by
the pains commonly bestowed in making everything pretty and seemly
inside the coffin, and by the strewment of flowers and evergreens upon
the corpse — an Anglo-Saxon custom — to render as pleasing as possible
the last sight and remembrance of the dead, the coffin lid being always
left open, until the moment of 'lifting,' for a last fond look from
relatives and friends.
" As regards the solemn ceremony of ' lifting,' the usage varies in
different parishes. In some the manner is to lift the corpse in front
of the house, in the middle of the road. Sometimes the coffin is
deposited outside the front door on two chairs during the first, or the
first and second verses of a hymn, the remainder being sung by the
mourners and friends as they move on towards the place of burial ;
and in some parishes, on depositing the burden at the church gate,
another hymn is sung, and » third after the reading of the lesson
previous to carrying the body out of the sacred building to the grave
side. But the practice of singing hymns at funerals, though a very
ancient and laudable one, is gradually dying out. It still holds in
some places where there is a regular choir attached to the parish
church, at the burial of one of their brotherhood, or of any person
well known to them.
FUNERAL CUSTOMS. 163
"There are customs, as has been already intimated, of very re-
stricted observance.
"For instance, at Bongate, Appleby, and at Penrith, a table is
placed at the door, covered with a white cloth, furnished with sprigs
of rosemary and box, a piece of which is taken by each guest on
entering the house. The selection of box for such an occasion may be,
and probably is, that it is an evergreen, and easily procurable ; but
the appropriateness of rosemary is obvious. Ophelia informs us that
it is ' for remembrance ; ' but it has a deeper significance than this.
Heathen nations, the Romans, for instance, made use of cypress at
their funerals, a tree which, once cut, never revives, but dies away —
fit emblem of their belief that the bodies of their dead had perished
for ever. A Christian, in following a brother or sister to man's ' long
home,' bears in his hand a sprig of rosemary, which is always green,
and which flourishes the more the more it is cut, and which, being set
in the ground, will strike root immediately, and branch into a tree.
By this simple, but touching figure, avouching his belief that this very
body of his relative or friend which he is about to see solemnly com-
mitted to the ground, will one day rise again, and be reunited to the
soul. ' I am the Resurrection and the Life.' Hearing that voice,
" ' "We gladlier rest
Our darlings on earth's quiet breast,
And our hearts feel they must not break. *
May this innocent and significant custom always be retained amongst
us.
" But I turn from it to allude to one which surely even those who
are 'native here, and to the manner born,' will be ready to admit
would be more honoured in the breach than in the observance, namely,
That of making proclamation in the churchyard for all friends and
neighbours to resort for refreshment to certain public-houses. There
is something so repulsive in this that every effort should be made to
put a stop to it.
" The practice and mode of ' bidding ' to funerals deserves a passing
notice.
" In some places invitations are sent round from house to house, and
in many parishes — it was so at Sebergham a few years ago — there is a
1 64 CHURCH FOLKLORE.
person who regularly undertakes the duty of bidding. I understand
that at Penrith and Carlisle, and possibly in other places, it is not
unusual to employ the bellman for this purpose. The practice is to
invite all within a certain boundary to attend the house of the deceased
some hours before the time fixed for lifting ; and this fashion of
inviting a large circle of friends to gather together early in the day
furnishes opportunity for the feasting and drinking, which, as already
observed, not infrequently results in excess and unpunctuality. I am
told that, at Warcop, should the death occur on the south side of the
beck, the south, or tower side, is invited ; if on the north, or hall side,
that side is summoned to attend. Also, that a commestible, called
' fiermity ' or ' frumity ' (Latin, frumentum), consisting of milk, white
bread, ale, fruit, currants, etc., is made in a cheese-kettle, and served
in a large milk-bowl. Each guest is provided with a spoon, and all
partake in common as they will. What remains is given to children
visiting the house the day after the burial.
" The passing bell, which in our country in former times used to be
rung at the hour of a person's death to obtain prayers for the departing
soul, is rung amongst us after the decease. The solemn event is
announced by nine tolls for a man, six for a woman, and three for a
child, though the numbers are variable. Then, at the conclusion of
the tolling, all the bells are heard to chime forth. Here, again, we
may note a, custom peculiar to Warcop. The bell is tolled thrice
during the day from the death until the burial, morning, noon, and
night, at 8 a.m., 12 noon, and at 8 p.m.
" A practice, more singular than important, is that which prevails in
certain localities of telling the bees of a death in a family, and also of
turning the hive right round before the corpse is lifted. We know
that many superstitions exist in connection with these wonderful in-
sects, but not the least remarkable is that which can attribute the
desertion of a hive — and such a thing has been known at Edenhall — to.
neglect of the attention mentioned above.''
We must now pass on to another phase of the subject
which we are considering. Among the many curious
tombs which might be mentioned, I select one, simply as a
specimen. In the " Historical Description of Wimborne
FUNERAL CUSTOMS. 165
Minster," by Mr. G. Yeattnan, the following passage
occurs : — " Under the south-west window (of the chancel
aisle) is the tomb of Anthony Ettrick, the first Recorder of
Poole, and the magistrate who committed the Duke of
Monmouth. He, having been offended with the inhabitants
of Wimborne, made solemn protestation that he never
would be buried in the church or churchyard, under the
ground or over. To fulfil his design he obtained per-
mission to cut a niche in the wall where the coffin was
placed during his life, and the date on the front that he
thought he would die, in 1691 ; but he lived till 1703. It
is visible, but the date has been altered. The tomb is of
black marble, on which is painted the coats of arms and
pedigree of his family. The deed (which has his signature)
is still preserved, conveying 20s. annually to Wimborne
churchwardens to keep his tomb in repair."
A few words now as to inscriptions on tombstones.
So many collections of quaint epitaphs have been pub-
lished that it would be waste of space to dwell upon them
here. There are, however, one or two facts to which I
should wish to call attention.
Mr. F. J. Ames, the postmaster at Crondall, Hants, tells
me that the following inscription appears on a gravestone
at Alton in the same county : —
" Sacred to the memory of Edward Andrews. Born
March 18, 174|. Died Jan, 1830."
It" will be at once noticed that the above rather curious
at
inscription, according to our modern views, was framed
under the old style. According to the old system of
reckoning, the year began on March 25. Hence, the
seventh month was called " September," the eighth
" October/' and so on. When the Gregorian or new style
was adopted, the year was made to begin on the first day of
1 66 CHURCH FOLKLORE.
January. E. Andrews was born on March 18 — , i.e. in the
last month of the year 1747, old style, or the third month
of the year 1748, new style.
It is not always safe to trust to inscriptions on tomb-
stones for historical facts. I am not thinking of the child
who, in walking round a churchyard, and reading the
eulogistic epitaphs about perfect husbands and devoted
wives, asked her mother where all the naughty people
were buried, but treating it as a purely historical question.
It is noteworthy, that in Chipstead Church, Surrey, on a
flat stone on the floor within the altar rails, there is the
following inscription : —
" HERE LYETH INTERRED THE
BODY OF ALCE HOOKER, ELDEST
DAVGHTER TO THE REVEREND FATHER
IN GOD, RICHARD HOOKER, DOCTOR
IN DIVINITY AND DEAN OF SARVM
WHO DEPARTED THIS LIFE THE
20TH OF DECEMBER, ANNO DOMINI 1649."
The title given here to one who was not a bishop is
curious. And further, it must be remarked that the
' Judicious Hooker " was never Dean of Sarum. He was
Prebendary of Netherhaven in connection with Salisbury
Cathedral, and I presume, in consequence, a member of the
chapter. The explanation of the error is simple enough.
The fact is that Hooker was appointed Sub-Dean of Sarum
in 1591. The proper title of canons is " Very Reverend,"
and this the Roman Church has retained, although with
ourselves it has fallen into disuse. I cannot explain the
exact form of the title in the above epitaph, but any one can
see that the mistake was not an altogether unnatural one.
Lawyers and writers of history would do well to remember
the above error.
FUNERAL CUSTOMS 1 67
There were some curious customs in olden times with
regard to burial garlands. Thus I find in the Gentleman's
Magazine 1 a paper in which the writer, after saying that,
in the last century, maids were rewarded at their deaths
with a garland or crown on their heads, adds that in the
year 1783, the clerk of the parish church of Bromley in
Kent, when digging a grave in the churchyard close to the
east end of the chancel wall, dug up one of these crowns or
garlands, which was most artistically wrought in filagree
work, with gold and silver wire in resemblance of myrtle,
whose leaves were fastened to hoops of larger wire of iron.
The writer states that he possessed part of the wreath and
lining.
Of " depository garlands," he says that their use continued
within twenty or thirty miles of London until within a
few years of his writing. At funerals they were carried
solemnly before the corpse by two maids, and afterwards
hung up in some conspicuous place within the church. His
description of the garlands is the familiar one. They have
either gloves cut out in paper, and inscribed with the name,
or a solitary hour-glass hanging therein.
About forty years ago, he adds, these garlands grew
much out of repute, and were thought by many to be
unbecoming decorations for so sacred a place as a church.
Many were taken down, and the hanging up of new ones
forbidden in some places.
Any reader who is curious to see an illustration of some
of these funeral garlands will find two very interesting
wood-cuts in Chambers' " Book of Days " under February
18th, borrowed from The Reliquary, 2 where those hang-
ing in the churches of Ashford-in-the- Water and Matlock
are depicted. A detailed description of them is given,
following upon a pretty quotation from Gay's poems : —
1 Gentleman's Magazine (1747), p. 264.
2 Vol. i., p. 7.
168 CHURCH FOLKLORE.
" To her sweet memory flow'ry garlands strung
On her now empty seat aloft were hung."
Writing in 1874, tbe late Canon Humble says : —
" Wreaths of flowers used to be carried at the funerals of
young people at Wilton, and not thrown into the grave, but
.hung up in the church — a sort of Disce mori better than
the motto on the Hatchment."
He adds, as a point to be noted, as bearing upon the
above remark, that they were not immortelles, but fresh
flowers such as are spoken of by Wordsworth as a custom
in Westmoreland.
In reply to inquiries which I made, a lady at Minsterly
in Shropshire has been good enough to send me the
following : —
" Concerning the garlands in Minsterly Church, I can
only give you the old tradition concerning them ; positive
knowledge on the subject is, I believe, unattainable. They
are seven in number, made of rosettes and streamers of
ribbon on a foundation of wood, cane, or wire. In the
centre of each are hung gloves of paper. Each one is sus-
pended on a small stick little more than a foot in length,
at the end of which is a wooden heart bearing initials and
date. The latest is M. M., 1777. They are placed very
high on the wall of the church. Tradition says that they
are in memory of betrothed maidens, who, having lost
their lovers by death in early youth, continued faithful to
their first love, and led a virgin life, devoted to the memory
of the departed. They commemorate not the betrothed
who dies first, but the survivor who remains faithful to
the love of her youth. ... It is said that in each case
the garland was made by the person whose fidelity it
commemorates. I cannot say whether any of the initials
represent men, but the general impression is that they
are all females.''
FUNERAL CUSTOMS. 169
Not so many years ago, a contributor to Notes and
Queries 1 stated that the custom of hanging up funeral
garlands for maidens deceased still existed at Abbots Ann,
near Andover. Pie counted nearly forty of them in the
■church in 1873, and described them as formed of a crown
of some metal with five white gloves, one in the centre, and
the remainder on the circlet.
A somewhat curious usage slightly different from the
above, has been described to me by Mr. Leadman, F.S.A., of
Boroughbridge. He says that at Aldborough, near there, a
hundred or more years ago, before the old rood screen in
the church was destroyed, garlands of flowers were hung
up over the entrance to the choir in memory of young
maidens and bachelors, the names of the deceased being
inscribed in each case.
In parts of Lancashire, a basin with sprigs of box is
placed at the door from which the corpse is brought out
for burial. Each person takes one, and throws it into the
grave after the funeral. Box grown in gardens is there
•called " burying box " by cottagers.
At a funeral at Penynyngold, adjoining Hope in Flint-
shire, Mr. W. H. King tells me that he saw those present
-after the grave had been filled in, plucking sprigs of ever-
green, and sticking them all over the grave.
A contributor to Notes and Queries quotes from the
Exeter Gazette a description of a funeral, and says : — " In
accordance with the usual custom, sprigs of acacia were
dropped on the coffin at the conclusion of the ceremony.
The newspaper correspondent appears to have omitted all
explanation of the custom. The deceased was a Freemason,
as, probably, were the mourners. It is by no means an
uncommon usage for the members of the Masonic brother-
hood to act as above described, and it is customary for
them to wear a sprig of acacia in their coats.
Notes and Queries, Nov. 22, 1873.
17 O CHURCH FOLKLORE.
May I venture to speculate as to the choice of this
particular tree ? The acacia is, I believe, the nearest
English counterpart to the tree which is called the
" Locust " in America. It may be remembered that William
Cobbett, in his book on gardening, when speaking of the
best sort of timber for fencing purposes, especially recom-
mended " locust " to be used, for that, he says, will last for-
ever. I quote from memory, but I believe that I am sub-
stantially correct.
A lady tells me that when her father, who was a Free-
mason of the highest degree, was buried many years ago in
Canada, he had a Masonic funeral, Masons coming from all
parts of the Dominion. Masons took charge of the body,,
and Masons were the bearers, all wearing a sprig of green — ■
she forgets what — for there was no acacia to be had. At
the close of the service these sprigs were cast into the
grave, so that the coffin was covered.
If my speculation above mentioned is correct, the sprigs
in question were most likely those from either the birch or
the elm, as these, if I mistake not, are the two trees which
furnish the most enduring wood when subjected to-
moisture. Hence, perhaps, the evil practice of making
coffins of elm in order to keep the body from the corrupting
effects of contact 'with the earth for as long as possible, the
very opposite to which is what all sensible people desire.
In some places the periodical dressing of graves is most,
carefully attended to. Thus the Vicar of Usk, Monmouth-
shire, has been good enough to send me the following
details. He says that for some weeks before Palm Sunday,
the inhabitants are busy in the churchyard scouring the
gravestones, repainting the railings, beautifying the tombs,
and returfing the grave mounds, the churchwardens doing
all they can to set God's acre in order. Fences are repaired,
walks and trees trimmed, and grass cut and cleared of
FUNERAL CUSTOMS. 17 1
weeds. All friends of the deceased ones who are buried
there, take care to get the slabs and stones set up before
the great day of ancestral commemoration.
When the day arrives, early in the morning we see
groups of pious survivors carrying trays and baskets of
flowers, garlands, floral crosses, and other devices, which
have been prepared from the few flowers to be obtained at
that early season.
Some supplement them with exotics and plants carefully
cherished indoors against the day. The richer people send
for rare hothouse plants in large abundance from a London
nursery. From early dawn the churchyard teems with a
population of busy grave-dressers of all ranks and ages.
When the day is fine, and no anxiety as to rain or strong
wind is felt, the cheerful friendliness of this stage of the
day is very pleasant and exciting.
By church time all is complete, and about half an hour
before that time spectators begin to arrive, ready, most of
them, for the House of God. Through the day there is a
large influx of visitors, affording an opportunity for many
a friendly meeting and greeting, and many a welcome
reminiscence is interchanged between the relatives of the
deceased persons whose graves have been adorned.
Moss baskets abound, and for some weeks before Palm
Sunday the country people make and bring them into
Usk, where they generally find a ready sale. Now and
then a deserted desolate grave shows the entire absence of
all representatives, but this is rare, as mostly some friend,
out of respect for the memories of the past, is found to do
the kind office, and to trim the lonely grave, or spare for
it a wreath of their own.
Mr. H. S. Simpson, writing from Cheltenham, informs
me that in the parish of St. Weonards, near Ross, in
Herefordshire, it was in 1836 the custom to dress the
graves in the churchyard with flowers on Palm Sunday.
172 CHURCH FOLKLORE.
About the year 1854 this was changed, and flowers were
put on the graves on Easter Day instead of Palm Sunday,
which, he adds, was called " Flowering Sunday." A lady
at Swansea tells me that at Crickhowell, in South Wales,
it has been the custom from time immemorial to dress not
only the graves on Palm Sunday, but also to hang garlands
on the monuments in the church.
CHAPTER VII.
PENANCE.
Following the sequence of services in the Prayer Book,
we now come to the Commination Office appointed to be
used on Ash Wednesday, which opens with the following
words : —
" Brethren, in the primitive Church there was a godly
discipline that at the beginning of Lent such people as
stood convicted of notorious sin were put to open penance,
and punished in this world, that their souls might be saved
in the day of the Lord, and that others, admonished by their
example, might be the more afraid to offend."
This, therefore, is the place where the matter of penance
in the English Church should come under our consideration.
It will be well for me to begin by transcribing some
valuable notes respecting the legal aspect of penance,
kindly supplied to me by Sir Walter G. F. Phillimore,
Bart., Q.C., who writes as follows : —
" You will find much about penance in ' Phillimore's
Ecclesiastical Law,' pages 1367-1375. In later times two
things were usually the subjects of penance — defamation
of character, and incontinence, especially incest.
" As to the latter, Lord Stowell, in Burgess v. Burgess
(' Haggard's Consistory Reports,' p. 393), in 1804, speaks of
the ancient solennis posnitentia before the bishop as much
softened down, and then says — 'Looking at the age and
infirmity of the party, and what might be the consequence
of such a punishment, the Court will not think it necessary
to inflict the public penance.' The man was very old.
173
174 CHURCH FOLKLORE.
" In Chick t'. Ramsdale (' 1 Curteis Ecclesiastical Reports/
p. 35), 1835, penance for an incestuous action was directed,
but upon a medical certificate of the woman's ill -health, was
remitted.
"In Woods v. Woods ('2 Curteis,' p. 529), 1840, Dr.
Lushington, as judge of the Consistory Court of London,
said — ' I think it right to say that although in some cases
public penance has been directed, still, after considering the
subject as carefully as I can, it has appeared to me advis-
able not to make that part of my sentence.'
" As late as 1856, my father, sitting as Chancellor of
Chichester, had the matter before him in a case of incest, and
said — ' I follow the example of Lord Stowell in Burgess v.
Burgess, in not enjoining public penance to be performed
by them.' (Phillimore's " Ecclesiastical Law,'' p. 1375).
" As to ' defamation,' I find in the law books a case of
penance enjoined as late as 1838 (Kington v. Hack, 7
Adolphus and Ellis, Queen's Bench Reports, p. 708), but
my idea is that there are several later. Penance in these
cases has consisted in a more or less public asking of pardon.
" There is certainly no statute abolishing penance, which
still remains a legal, though unusual, ecclesiastical punish-
ment. It was last dealt with by convocation in Queen
Anne's time as to monies paid for ' commutation of pen-
ance.' "
Sir Walter Phillimore adds : — " I find that fees for com-
mutation of penance were taken in some dioceses, and
stood in a regular ' table of fees ' to 1832. See Ecclesias-
tical Courts Commission Report, presented to Parliament."
Akin to penance is the sentence of excommunication,
concerning which Mr. Edward Peacock, F.S.A., has quoted
the following extract from the register of the parish of
Scotter, Lincolnshire : —
" Memorandum. That on Septuagesima Sunday, being
19th of January, 1667, one Francis Drury, an excommuni-
PENANCE. 175
«ate person, came into church in time of divine service in
ye morning, and being admonisht by mee to begon, he ob-
stinately refused. Whereuppon the whole congregation
■departed ; and after the same manner in the afternoon he
came againe, an refusing againe to go out the whole con-
gregation againe went home, soe yt little or no service was
pformed. They prevented his further coming in that
manner, as hee threatened, by order from the justice uppon
the statute of Queene Elizabeth concerning the molestation
■and disturbance of publiq preachers.
"William Caerington, Rector.
" O tempora ! O mores ! "
I will now proceed to give some instances of actual
penances which have been publicly carried out. In the
case of recent ones I suppress on charitable grounds the
names of delinquents, so as not to give pain to the survivors
of those who have thus publicly suffered in years gone by.
In the archives of Exeter Cathedral the following item
occurs under the heading, Transcript 1672, Southill, near
Cullington, Cornwall : —
" John Taprill, clerk, asked forgiveness of Rd. Grills
Carpenter, within the parish church of Southill, upon a
Sunday forenoon, after morning prayer, in the month of
December last past for reporting things not proven.
AVhereupon the said Taprill, longing to be revenged, did
sing some psalms as he thought fitting to lamentable tunes
for sorrow of his disgrace."
Henry Machyn, the diarist, did penance at St. Paul's
Cross, and he notifies the fact in a very amusing manner in
his manuscript, so as, if possible, to obscure the fact that it
was of himself that he was speaking.
176 CHURCH FOLKLORE.
"The xxiij day of November, the iiij yere [of] Quen
Elesabeth, dyd pryche at Powlles Crosse Renagir, yt was-
Sant Clement day, dyd sy[t] alle the sermon tyme monser
Henry de Machyn, for ij [words ?] the wyche was told hym,
that Veron the French [man] the precher was taken with a
wenche, by the reporting] by on Wylliam Laurence, clarke
of Sant Mare Mandle [ns] in Mylke Strette, the wyche the
sam Hare Knellyd down [be] for master Veron and the
byshope, and yett [they] would not for[give] hym for alle
ys fryndes that he had worshephalle."
The parish books of All Saints, Huntingdon, contain two
items relating to penance which have a special interest.
" 1621, Johannes Tomlinson, Rector. Oliverus Crom-
well, filius Roberti, reprehensus coram totam ecclesiam pro-
factis."
Five years later appears this : — "Jo. Tomlinson, Rector,
1626. Hoc anno Oliverus Cromwell fecit ponitentiam
corum totam ecclesiam." J
The following excerpt from the Worcester Journal of
December 18, 1766, has a peculiarity of its own : —
" A few Sundays ago Mr. M. of a certain parish not a
thousand miles from Pershore, was married to Miss R. of
the same parish, an agreeable young lady with a handsome
fortune. That same morning Mr. M. for a certain familiar
transaction with his housekeeper did penance in the same
parish church in a white robe, immediately after which the
ceremony of marriage between him and Miss R. commenced,
she, with her own father, who gave her away, waiting in
church while the penance was performing."
1 Ecclesiologist, vol. xxiii., p. 199.
PENANCE. 177
In the Court Book of the Peculiar of Middleham in York-
shire, for the year 1799, is the following item : —
" That Thomas Ibbotson should be suspended from his
office of Parish Clerk, without forfeiting his wages, until
the tenth day of February then next, and that he do not
approach the Sacrament of the Lord's Supper on that day,
that, by the prayers of Lent, he might be fitted for it at the
Festival of Easter, and lastly, that, on the first Sunday of
the ensuing Lent, he should stand during service until the
Nicene Creed was read, before the font under the gallery,
and then depart to a private seat, after having read dis-
tinctly the following acknowledgment : —
" I, Thomas Ibbotson, do acknowledge that, on the day of
the Feast of Circumcision, I behaved very irreverently in
the House of God, and that I interrupted the divine ser-
vice, and conducted myself in such a manner, both in the
church and out of it, as to give just cause of offence to
the congregation then present ; that I was led to this mis-
conduct by resentment, and not being perfectly sober at
the time, for which I beg pardon of Almighty God, and do
promise to order myself with greater sobriety and decency
for the time to come." 1
There are instances known in which irregular penances
were performed. The following, I take it, was one of
them, and was imposed either by their sect, or by the
fanatics upon themselves : —
" December 22. A man and woman, Quakers, walked
through the streets of Bristol, Gloucester, and Oxford, at
separate times, clothed in hair sackcloth, repeating some-
thing as they passed along, doing penance for," etc. etc. 2
1 Ecclesiolugist, vol. vii., p. 246.
2 Gentleman's Magazine (1748), p. 571.
178 CHURCH FOLKLORE.
It is generally supposed that doing public penance is
quite a thing of the distant past, and, perhaps, even the
case given above, of penance being undergone in 1799, will
surprise some readers. I have, however, amongst my mem-
oranda, instances occurring up to the middle of the present
century. In the Church Times of February 13th, 1880, a
lady correspondent wrote from Manchester to say that,
some time about the year 1845, a gentleman, holding a good
position in a midland city, said of a lady in the same city
that he had seen her drunk in the streets. For this slander,
her husband prosecuted him in the civil courts, and her
father in the Consistory Court of the diocese. In the
former he was fined £300, and in the latter the then chan-
cellor sentenced him to do penance in a white sheet at the
door of his parish church on the following Ash Wednesday.
What renders this case more curious is that the " slander "'
in question was a fact known to be true !
Public penance for defamation of character was done in
the parish church of Westbury-on-Severn, Newnham,
Gloucestershire, on July 8, 1846.
The Kev. W. J. Frere tells me that Sister of St.
Barnabas, Leeds, informed him that, as a child, she saw in
Kirk Christ, Callan, Isle of Man, four or five persons
standing in sheets in the church to do penance during
Lent.
In 1849, an inhabitant of a village in Cambridgeshire
was sentenced by the Ecclesiastical Court to do penance,
having been found guilty of the charge of defamation
of character brought against him by the wife of the
rector.
If the same discipline were exercised now, which, as the
Prayer Book says, " is much to be wished," it would, me-
thinks, go far to put a stop to ill-natured gossip, and to the
circulation of malevolent stories which is so common in the
present day.
CHAPTER VIII.
THE CLERGY.
The services for the ordination of deacons and priests, and
for the consecration of bishops, which come next in the
Prayer Book, indicate that matters of Church Folklore
connected directly with the clergy should now be dealt
with. The late Canon Humble, writing in 1874, remarked
that the word " priest," as applied to the clergy, was univer-
sal throughout the north of England. A friend once told
him that in walking out of Newcastle some years before,
he was attracted by a boy, who was in advance, audibly
fixing upon the trade or profession of everyone he met.
After making several shrewd guesses, he said of one passing
him, " And thou's a preacher ; " in a short time meeting a
clergyman he remarked, " And thou's a priest."
The canon went on to say that " the name really ex-
presses the thought of the sacred character borne by the
clergy. It is quite generally admitted that a priest may
go anywhere, and at any time of the day or night, and he
will never be molested if it be known what he is.
"During strikes, as they used to be conducted thirty
years ago, with violence and great personal abuse, the clergy,
though they universally opposed the men, greatly owing to
the extreme lawlessness of their proceedings, could address
large numbers of pitmen as to their duties without eliciting
anything more than a quiet remonstrance that the clergy
did not know what they (the men) had to bear from under-
strappers.
179
l8o CHURCH FOLKLORE.
" I remember on one occasion the men who were in ex-
treme want organised bands to go about the country and
ask for bread, and their numbers struck terror into the
people in lonely places, and they gave them whatever they
asked for.
" One such party came to my lodgings. I went out and
addressed them, and told them that not only would I not
give them anything, coming in the menacing way they
did, but that I would advise every one I could influence to
refuse them also. The men began to justify themselves,
find were for arguing out the case. A layman under such
circumstances would have been very roughly treated.
Coal - owners at that time sent their plate and other
valuables to the residences of the clergy. The approach of
the clergyman is signalled by the first person who sees him,
so that anything not very respectable that is going on may
be stopped in time : ' Hush, hush, here's the priest.' "
In harmony with this is what the Rev. Eddowes of St.
Jude's, Bradford, states. When he was curate of Garton-in-
the-Wolds in the East Riding of Yorkshire, the clergyman
was always spoken of as the " priest." He says that he
was called by the poor " the Garton Priest," and similarly
the vicars around were known by the name of their parishes.
It is the same, as another clergyman has told me, in the
North Riding. The Rev. Thomas Fenton, Vicar of Ings,
Kendal, says that to this day the old people thereabouts
speak of " Priest Strickland " (of Staveley) and of " Parson
Airey " (of Ings or Hugil) ; the two churches are not a
couple of miles apart. The writer does not mention why
this distinction is made between the two clergymen.
To show that the clerical title mentioned was not peculiar
to the north of England, I would draw attention to a passage
in " My Life," by Mr. T. Sidney Cooper, R.A., who was born
in 1803 at Canterbury, and spent all his early years in that
city. In relating an anecdote of his meeting the Archbishop
THE CLERGY. 151
of Canterbury in the year 1815, Mr. Cooper writes thus: — " I
said to myself, ' That's a priest.' In those days the boy.s
called all parsons ' priests,' and I could see he was a clergy-
man of some sort." 1
Few persons, I imagine, are aware of the existence of
the title " Lord Rector," as belonging to a clergyman. Be-
fore me is a letter from the Rev. R. Noble Jackson, Vicar of
Winchcombe, Gloucestershire, and Lord Rector of Sudeley—
the place, by the way, where Queen Katharine Parr was
buried. It contains such out-of-the-way information that
I must give it in full. The letter bears date Sept. 4, 1888.
Mr. Jackson writes from Winchcombe as follows : —
" It is not in my capacity as vicar of this parish, but as
having charge of an adjacent parish of Sudeley, that I am
Lord Rector thereof. I am resigning this living, but shall
still retain that of Sudeley, with its vast honours and
emoluments. The fact is that the endowment of Sudeley
being so small, and the population not a hundred, I, like my
predecessors, have held the two livings, but the offices are
quite distinct — Vicar of Winchcombe, and Lord Rector of
Sudeley. As to the latter title (I believe there are five
other lord rectors in England) I suppose it is connected
with the copyhold lands belonging to the living. I have
now open before me, and partially unrolled, the Court Roll
of the parish of Sudeley, to which my immediate prede-
cessor added in his lifetime (by measurement just made)
more than twelve yards. In it, for instance, unrolling to
his immediate predecessor I find this : —
" ' The Court Baron of the Rev. J. J. Lates, etc., Rector
of Sudeley, and Lord of the Manor aforesaid, holden 9th of
March, in the eighth year of our Sovereign Lord George
Fourth, and in the year of our Lord, 1827, before John
] Vol. i., p. 45.
1 82 CHURCH FOLKLORE.
James Lates, Lord of the said Manor, William Staite ami
Thomas Hale, homage sworn,' etc. etc."
Whilst engaged upon clerical titles, I must transcribe
another letter, received by me ten years ago in reply to in-
quiries relative to that of " Archpriest." The Rev. Fitz-
william John Taylor, dating from East Ogwell Rectory,
Newton Abbot, Devon, writes : —
" I understand that there are in the diocesan registry
office, at Exeter (though I have never seen them) documents
setting forth the privileges of the Archpriest of Haccombe,
the chief being immunity from any but Archiepiscopal
visitations ; the right to sit next the bishop on all public
occasions, and to wear lawn sleeves. I do not know whether
my predecessor, Mr. Carew, ever exercised this latter privi-
lege, but I have never done so myself. I was, however,
instituted formally to the Rectory or Archpriesthood of
Haccombe, and you will perceive by a slip from our diocesan
calendar, which, I append, that I am there called ' Arch-
priest.' I also never answer at the visitations of the bishop
or archdeacon when Haccombe is called.
" I have heard that there is another archpriest somewhere
in England, but I cannot tell you where."
The item in the Exeter Diocesan Calendar, to which Mr.
Taylor refers, runs thus : —
" Taylor, Fitzwilliam John, R. E. and W. Ogwell, and
Archpriest of Haccombe. Newton Abbot . . . 1842."
But if the clerical titles of " Archpriest " and " Lord
Rector '' sound strange to most ears, what is to be said to
that of " Cardinal in St. Paul's " ? Yet such is the title
held at the present day by two of the twelve minor canons
of the London Cathedral. On the title page of his book,
THE CLERGY. 1 83
" Chapters in the History of Old St. Paul's," Dr. Sparrow-
Simpson, F.S.A., describes himself as " Junior Cardinal in
St. Paul's Cathedral." From a later book by the same
author, called " Gleanings from Old St. Paul's," I learn that
among the Harleian MSS. 1 is a volume of " Fragments "
collected by one Thomas Gybbons, Esq., in which occurs
the following passage : — " The Church of St. Paul's had,
before the time of the conqueror, two cardinals, which office
still continue (sic). They are chosen by the dean and
chapter out of the number of the twelve petty canons, and
are called Cardinales Ghori. Their office is to take notice
of the absence or neglect of all the quire, and weekly to
render account thereof to the dean and chapter. . . . Not
any cathedral church hath cardinals beside this, nor are
any beyond seas to be found to be dignified with this title,
saving the churches of Rome, Ravenna, Aquileia, Millan,
Pisa, Beneuent in Italy, and Compostella in Spayn " (p. 6).
Two or three pages further on we are told that the
college of minor canons consists of twelve priests, of whom
the first is sub-dean, and the second and third, Cardinales
Chori. Their several duties are described, and it is said
that "by way of recompense for these manifold labours they
shall receive certain offerings of the faithful, and also a
larger portion of bread and beer."
From the answers to the inquiries made at the first
visitation of the Bishop of London (Bancroft) in 1598, re-
specting the reading of prayers at 5 o'clock in the morning
in summer, and 6 o'clock in the winter, it was stated that
it was always done by the " Petticannons " in their course,
"savinge the sub-dean and the two cardinalls, who have byn
allwayes freed from that dutye."
Let us now go on to consider the social status of the
clergy in times gone by.
There is (says Mr. Overton) an odd illustration of the
1 Harleian MSS., No. 930, fo. 170, a.
1 84 CHURCH FOLKLORE.
immeasurable distance which was supposed to separate the
bishop from the curate in " Cradock's Reminiscences."
Bishop Warburton was to preach at St. Lawrence's Church
in behalf of the London Hospital. " I was/' writes Cradock,
" introduced into the vestry by a friend, where the Lord
Mayor and others were waiting for the Duke of York, who
was their president, and in the meantime the bishop did
everything in his power to entertain and alleviate their
patience. He was beyond measure condescending and
courteous, and even graciously handed some biscuits and
wine on a salver to the curate who was to read prayers." 1
Dean Swift, in his "Project for the Advancement of
Religion," speaks of curates in the most contemptuous
terms. In London a clergyman, with one or two sorry
curates, has sometimes the care of above 20,000 incumbent
on him.
The following note shows what remuneration for casual
clerical duty was customary two hundred years ago.
Stackhouse, in his " Miseries and Great Hardships of the
Inferior Clergy in and about London," tells us that they
were objects of extreme wretchedness. They lived in
garrets, and appeared in the streets in tattered cassocks.
The common fee for a sermon was a shilling and a dinner,
for reading prayers, twopence and a cup of coffee.
And then as to their families : the following picture
drawn by Dean Swift of the poorer clerical households is a
sad one. He says that the wife is little better than Goody in
her birth, education, and dress, and as to himself, we must
let his parentage alone. If he be the son of a farmer it
is very sufficient, and his sister may be very decently
chamber-maid to the squire's wife. He goes about on
working days in a grazier's coat, and will not scruple to
assist his workmen in harvest time. His daughter shall go
to service, or be sent apprentice to the sempstress in the
1 Abbey and Overton : vol. ii., ch. i.
THE CLERGY. 185
next town, and his sons are put to honest trades. This is
the usual course of an English vicar with from £20 to £60
a year.
We must bear in mind that Dean Swift was not over-
scrupulous as regards the statements which he made, and
we must take his words for what they are worth. Never-
theless, I am inclined to think that Mr. Overton is not far
off the truth when he suggests that Fielding's character of
Parson Adams and Parson Trulliber are fair specimens of
the higher and lower type of the poorer class of clergy of
that day.
I have picked up some rather curious items relative to
the refreshment provided for the clergy in past days. An
instance was given above ; here are two or three more.
The following item appears in the vestry minutes at
Haverin£-atte-Bower in Essex : —
" At a Vestry held at St. Marie's Chappel, Havering, ye
9th of Nov., 1717.
" Agreed — Yt a pint of sack be allowed ye minister
jt officiates ye Lord's Day ye winter season."'
In the north of England they seem to have been excep-
tionally liberal to the clergy. Thus in the vestry book of
the parish of Preston, under date April 19, 1731, it is
ordered that two bottles of wine be allowed any strange
clergyman that shall at any time preach. 2 Query — was
this intended as his fee, or had he a money gift besides ?
An old curate of Romford recollects that when charity
sermons were preached for the parochial schools, the vestry
table was covered with a large white communion cloth, and
that bottles of Port and Sherry, with plates of almonds
1 Notes and Queries (18G0), p. 90.
2 Ibid., (18G0), p. 187.
1 86 CHURCH FOLKLORE.
and raisins, biscuits, etc., were provided for the clergymen
and their friends. 1
The Rev. Bowyer Vaux of Great Yarmouth states that
fifty years ago, at St. Philips, Birmingham, wine was always
placed on the vestry table on Sunday for the refreshment
of the clergy. He has himself partaken of it several times.
I remember hearing about this when, as a boy, I used to
attend that church, and thinking what a very comfortable
arrangement it was.
At some of the city churches in London — St Dionis,
Backchurch, for instance — there was formerly, and perhaps
still is, a similar custom according to a contributor to Notes
and Queries. He adds that on occasions when the Lord
Mayor and other members of the Corporation attend in
state, wine, cake, and biscuits are handed round to all who
have the entree at the close of the morning service.
It was not always that the good things in the vestry
were confined to the clergy and their privileged friends.
It has been the custom from time immemorial to mark the
return of Palm Sunday at Hentland Church, Boss, in a
peculiar manner. The minister and congregation receive
from the churchwardens, a cake or bun, and, in former
times, a cup of beer also. This is consumed within the
church, and is supposed to imply a desire on the part of
those who partake of it, to forget all past animosities, and
thus prepare themselves for Easter. 2
We now come to the question of Pluralities. The follow-
ing instances of the enjoyment of these by the higher
clergy, and their indulgence in non-residence, will give
some idea of the church abuses which were tolerated a
hundred and fifty years ago. The great aim of these
dignified clerics seems to have been to get as much prefer-
1 Notes and Queries (1 860), p. 354.
" Ibid., (1865), p. 171.
THE CLERGY. 1 87
«ient as they could, and to keep it as long as possible.
The amount of subserviency which they must have been
guilty of to those in high position who had good things at
their disposal is humiliating to contemplate. One would
not have been surprised at anything from bishops like
Burnet and Hoadley, but men of a far higher type, speak-
ing generally, seem in the matters of pluralities and non-
residence, to have known no such thing as conscience, or
even to have had an idea that they were doing anything
scandalous.
Bishop Newton, the amiable and learned author of
" Dissertations on the Prophecies," mentions it as an act of
almost Quixotic disinterestedness, that when he obtained
the deanery of St. Pauls, i e. in addition to his bishopric,
he resigned his living in the city, having held it for twenty-
five years. In another passage he plaintively enumerates
the various preferments he had to resign on taking the
bishopric of Bristol (1761-1782). He was obliged to give
up the prebendal stall at Westminster, the precentorship of
York, the lectureship of St. George's, Hanover Square,
and the genteel office of sub-almoner. On another occasion
we find him conjuring his friend, Bishop Pearce, of
Rochester, not to resign the deanery of Westminster.
Herring held the deanery of Rochester in commandant
with the bishopric of Bangor (1738-1743). Wilcocks was
Bishop of Rochester (1731-1748), and Dean of Westminster,
and was succeeded both in the deanery and the bishopric
by Zachary Pearce (1756-1774). Hoadley held the See of
Bangor for six years (1716-1721), apparently without ever
seeing the diocese in his life. . . . Bishop Watson, of
Llandaff, gives a most artless account of his non-residence
(1782-1816). "Having," he tells us, "no place of residence in
my diocese, I turned my attention to the improvement of
land. I thought the improvement of a man's fortune by
cultivating the earth, was the most useful and honourable
1 88 CHURCH FOLKLORE.
way of providing for a family. I have now, for several
years, been occupied as an improver of land and a planter
of trees." The same bishop gives us the most extraordinary
description of the sources whence his clerical income was
derived. "The provision of £2,000," he says, "which I possess
from the Church, arises from the tithes of two churches in
Shropshire, two in Leicestershire, two in my diocese, three
in Huntingdonshire, on all of which I have resident curates;
of five more appropriations to the bishopric, and two more
in the isle of Ely as appropriations to the archdeaconry of
Ely." From a letter of George III., to Mr. Pitt, in 1787, it
would seem that public opinion was at last somewhat out-
raged by the existence of these evils. The king,
himself, felt strongly the mischief they were doing, but
he could only protest ineffectually against their con-
tinuance. 1
This is a long extract, but I have thought well to give it,,
as it presents in such a graphic manner the state of things
in the English Church in the " good old times." Scandals,,
like those above related, may, perhaps, be thought to be
things entirely of the past. Not so. I happen to know a
parish, forty miles from London, where the late incumbent,,
who resigned about three years ago, had not been in
residence for over fifty years. I trust that in these daj's
this is a unique case.
In connection with what has been said above, the condi-
tion in which the Scilly Isles were left as regards church
privileges above a century ago is worth noting.
In 1774, according to some writers, there was only one
ecclesiastical person upon the Scilly Islands, whose resi-
dence was at St. Mary's, and who visited the other islands
once a year. But Campbell, in his " Political Survey," says
that service is performed and sermons preached, or rather
read, every Sunday in the churches of these islands by an
1 Abbey and Overton: vol. ii., p. 11.
THE CLERGY. I 89
honest layman appointed fox* that purpose. 1 What we call
lay readers were, if I mistake not, recognised by convoca-
tion about two hundred years previous to the date given
above.
Until a comparatively recent date, the neglect of the
secular authorities in dealing with prisoners is notorious,
and when their temporal needs were so ill looked after it
is not to be expected that attention should have been paid
to their spiritual requirements. More than three hundred
years ago, public attention was called to this. Bishop
Latimer, in a sermon preached before Edward VI. in 1549,
said : — " Oh, I would ye would resort to prisons ! a com-
mendable thing in a Christian realm. I would wish there
were curates of prisons, that we might say ' the Curate of
Newgate,' 'the Curate of the Fleet,' and I would have
them waged for their labour." A contributor to Notes and
Queries, in 1850, states that gaol chaplains were made
universal by Act of Parliament in the fourth year of
George IV. Before that they may have existed in some
places. In Gloucestershire from 1786.
Most people are aware that men in holy orders are dis-
qualified from sitting in the House of Commons. This was
finally settled by 41 Geo. III., c. 63, an Act passed in 1801.
This Act had especial reference to the political agitator,
Home Tooke, who was a priest, having been ordained in
1760, and through his interest with Lord Camelford had
been appointed to represent the borough of Old Sarum in
the House of Commons. There was at the same time a
deacon M.P. This was the Rev. Edward Rushworth
member for Newport, in the Isle of Wight. Both these
members retained their seats until the dissolution in June
1802.
The following instance of a diplomatic deacon is pro-
1 Notes mid Queries (1856), p. 222.
190 CHURCH FOLKLORE.
bably without a parallel during the last two hundred
years.
In the " Lexington Papers " mention is made of a Mr.
Robert Sutton, who, after having taken deacon's orders,
and having accompanied his relative, Lord Lexington, to
Vienna in the joint capacity of chaplain and secretary, was,
on his recall in 1697, appointed resident minister at the
Imperial Court ; was subsequently sent as envoy extraor-
dinary to the Ottoman Porte; in 1720, succeeded Lord
Stair as British minister in Paris ; in 1721 was elected
M.P. for Notts; and in 1725 was created Knight of the
Bath. 1
There were formerly, as all know, parishes which were
called " Peculiars," and which were exempt from the juris-
diction of the bishop of the diocese in which they were
situated, and subject only to the metropolitan. As the
clergy in these parishes were in a somewhat abnormal
position, one or two notes respecting them will not be out
of place here.
Romford, Essex, is a civil parish, but is not separated
from Hornchurch for ecclesiastical purposes. All the tithes,
great and small, of Hornchurch and Romford were given to
New College, Oxford, by William of Wykeham, five
hundred years ago, and are still held by that society.
There is no endowment, properly so called, attached to the
church at Romford, but a yearly stipend of £700 is granted
by New College. The so-called Vicar of Romford is
neither instituted nor inducted, but holds his position,
under a private deed, from New College, and, I understand,
is not bound to residence at Romford, nor restrained from
holding a benefice with the cure of souls elsewhere. This
was the case formerly, but it may not hold good now. In
the vestry book at Romford are, as I am told, several
minutes made by successive bishops, who, being allowed to
1 Notes and Queries, Jan. 3, ] 852.
THE CLERGY. igi
officiate in the church, were required to disclaim any author-
ity or power therein.
The Rev. the Hon. F. G. Dutton, Vicar of Bibury, Fair-
ford, has told me that Bibury was a " Peculiar " till 1847,.
when it shared the fate of other " Peculiars," and was
placed under the jurisdiction of the bishop. Mr. Cresswell,
the previous vicar, always refused to allow Bishop Monk
to enter the church.
CHAPTER IX.
LAY CHURCH OFFICIALS.
Among lay church officers the churchwardens naturally
stand first. At the present day it is probable that but few
of those who hold the office are aware how multifarious
and important are their duties. The popular notion would
seem to be that they are in some way responsible for the
well-being of the Church fabric, and the preservation of the
" ornaments," with certain other minor matters. Not so,
their responsibility extends much farther than this.
According to Canon 113, they are to take care for the
suppressing of all sin and wickedness in their parishes, and
to take note of persons who have a general evil character
among their neighbours, and to present them to those who
have ecclesiastical jurisdiction. Indeed the multiplicity as
well as the invidious nature of their defined duties led a
writer at the beginning of the century to say, that not-
withstanding that they were solemnly bound to all kinds
of unpleasant and compromising work, very few steps were
taken towards the performance of their duties. In some
parishes, however, a semblance of paying regard to their
■oaths seems to have been kept up. I believe that at Hope,
near Sheffield, for instance, it was formerly the custom
during the morning service, after the banns had been pub-
lished, or if no banns after the second lesson, for the
churchwardens to leave the church and to go round the
public-houses near the churchyard to see that all was quiet.
This done, they returned to the church in time for the
192
LAY CHURCH OFFICIALS. 1 93
sermon. A friend tells me that this used to be very
generally done in the West Riding of Yorkshire in times
gone by, and that even so lately as in 1872 the church-
wardens of one parish got into trouble through the police
rinding them drinking in a public-house which they had
visited officially during morning service. At Manchester,
at the close of the last century, it was the custom for the
chief magistrate of the town, with the churchwardens and
police officers, to leave the church after the first lesson, and
to compel all persons found in the streets to come into the
church or pay a fine.
At Acton Church in Cheshire I am told that as recently
as fifty years ago one of the churchwardens used to walk
round the church during service time with a long wand,
with which he gave a tap on the head to any member of
the congregation who seemed to require it. We shall see
lower down that this duty was generally relegated to an
inferior officer.
The appointment of women as churchwardens is not un-
known. I am told that in 1890 a lady officiated in that
capacity at Pill in Somersetshire ; and the Guardian,
giving an account of the Easter vestries in its issue of May
27, 1891, announced that the Vicar of Machynlleth had
nominated as his churchwarden the Dowager-Marchioness
of Londonderry, who accepted the office.
If the churchwardens' books in country places were well
searched a number of queer old-world usages would be
brought to light. I cannot refrain from giving the follow-
ing item, not merely because it relates to a bit of vulgar
credulousness on the part of our rural populations, which
it is to be hoped is fast dying out, but for the delightful
comment made upon it by my correspondent.
In the churchwardens' accounts in a parish in Worcester-
shire, frequent mention is made of sums paid for " killing
urchins." In sending me this note the vicar humorously
194 CHURCH FOLKLORE.
remarks : — " In my ignorance I at first supposed it to re-
present the way of keeping down the population, or of
securing order in the Sunday School in these remote regions,
but better informed people told me that these items only
refer to the scarcely less reprehensible slaughter of inno-
cent hedgehogs."
A good many queer usages cluster round the office of
parish clerk. It was the clerk who always gave out the
hymns, or rather metrical psalms, with the prefatory
words, "Let us sing to the praise and glory of God," a
usage which can, I presume, be still retained only in the
most out-of-the-way parishes. It was the clerk who pub-
lished all the notices, both religious and secular — for the
most secular announcements were often made during ser-
vice, such as would never be heard now. About the oddest
of these notices that I have come across is the following.
About the year 1838 the clerk of a parish in Lancashire,
in the course of his ordinary duties as notice-giver in
church, had to announce that some carrots had been stolen
from the vicar's garden, and that a sovereign would be
awarded to anyone who would give such information as
would lead to the detection of the thief. The clerk himself
had stolen the carrots, some of which were boiling on
his fire for dinner at the time that he gave the notice. In
the afternoon his wife informed against him, and claimed
the reward. That woman was certainly a fine specimen of
a managing housewife, to get both the carrots and the
money !
It will serve to illustrate the free-and-easiness with
which the services of the Church were conducted in former
days in some country parishes if I relate what was told nie
by a gentleman, who vouched for the strict accuracy of
the story. When a boy, he was passing through a village
one Sunday morning, and turned into the church for ser-
LAY CHURCH OFFICIALS. 1 95
vice. He was shown into a pew close to the " three-
decker." Towards the end of the prayers the parson leant
over towards the clerk's desk, just below him, and said, in
quite an audible voice, "John, is Parliament sitting?"
" What do you say ? '' " Shall I pray for the Parliament ?"
" Yes, I think you'd better ; they're a damned bad lot."
In the seventeenth century it would appear that there
was often a difficulty in providing remuneration for the
parish clerk, and the custom of having " Clerk Ales " was
still kept up. These, as I have already said, were gather-
ings at which the feasters contributed the materials, and
the proceeds were devoted to increasing the parish clerk's
too meagre salary.
From the communications which appear in one issue of
Notes and Queries — that of October 8th, 1853 — in relation
to women acting as parish clerks, I imagine that this has
been no very unusual arrangement in times past. In that
one number of the publication we have five correspondents
giving instances. One quotes from Burns'" Parish Registers,"
p. 110, as follows :—" 1802, March 2nd. Buried Elizabeth
King, widow, for forty-six years clerk of the parish, in the
ninety-first year of her age." Another states that in 1828,
a woman was clerk in the parish of Sudbrook, near
Lincoln, and died in that capacity a few years afterwards.
A third remarks that a woman has long officiated as parish
clerk at Ickburgh, near Thetford, and still continues acting
in that capacity. Another refers to Madame D'Arblay's
Diary, vol. i., p. 246. " There was at Collumpton (Devon)
only a poor, wretched, ragged woman, a female clerk, to
show us this church. She pays a man for doing the duty
while she receives the salary in right of her deceased
husband." And lastly, Mr. Herbert L. Allen writes that at
Misterton, near Crewkerne, Somerset, Mary Mountford
was clerk for more than thirty years. She gave up the
office about the year 1832, and is now (1853) in Beaminster
196 CHURCH FOLKLORE.
Union, just 89 years old. Similarly, Mrs. Sheldon was
clerk at Wheatley in Oxfordshire, in the earlier part of
this century, and the sexton's mother held the like office
at Avington, Hungerford, for twenty-six years. It is
worth mentioning that at the present time the parish
clerk at St. Margaret-at-Cliffe, near Dover, is a woman —
Mrs. Goldsack. She succeeded to the office on the death of
her husband.
Those who are interested in the question of the legality
of such appointments should consult Prideaux's "Directions
to Churchwardens," Rex v. Stubbs, 2 T.R. 359, and Olive v.
Ingram, 2 Strange, 1114.
The office of parish clerk has not infrequently been
handed on from father to son during a lengthened period.
Thus the family of Osborns at Bellbroughton, and of Rose
at Bromsgrove, have supplied hereditary parish clerks
through many generations. The Osborns have been tailors
since Henry VIII.'s time, and can trace their descent
three centuries further back. The office of parish clerk
has been hereditary in the parishes of Hope and of King's
Norton. 1 As the writer deals only with those which he
knows in Worcestershire, we may be sure that similar
instances might be found to exist in other counties.
Sextons appear also to have sometimes inherited their
office. The Derbyshire Advertiser is said to have con-
tained the following obituary notice : — " On January 23,
1854, aged 86, Mr. Peter Bramwell, sexton of the parish
church of Chapel-en-le-Nith. The deceased served the
office of sexton forty-three years ; Peter Bramwell, his
father, fifty years; George Bramwell, his grandfather,,
thirty-eight years ; George Bramwell, his great-grand-
father, forty years ; and Peter Bramwell, his great-great-
grandfather, fifty-two years. Total — two hundred and
twenty-three years."
1 Notes and Queries, May 27, 1854.
LAY CHURCH OFFICIALS. IQJ
To return to the question of female church officials. Mr.
Cripps, in his " Laws of the Church and Clergy," 1 states
that it has been decided that a woman may be chosen for.
and exercise the office of sextoness, and vote in the election of
one. The reason given by the court in arriving atthisdecision
— notwithstanding that it was argued that women could not
vote for members of Parliament — was that, as this was an
office which did not concern the public, nor the care and
inspection of the morals of parishioners, there was no reason
why a woman who paid the rates should not vote. This
was not altogether as complimentary as it might have been
to the gentler sex, and after our recent experiences it is very
touching to learn that members of Parliament, as such, are
to be looked upon as guardians of public morals !
Several years ago I asked certain intelligent and gener-
ally well informed friends whether they had ever heard of the
" dogwhipper " as a recognised church officer, and in every
case the reply was in the negative. This I did to satisfy
myself as to how far old church customs were likely to be
familiar to the class of persons for whom this volume is
designed. The result of the simple inquiry seemed to
justify the preparation and publication of this book as be-
ing likely to contain a record of things not generally
known.
The " dogwhipper " in our churches was formerly, I
take it, pretty nearly as regularly appointed an officer as
the sexton, and in a number of parishes the title is still re-
tained. In the parish in which I am writing now the man
who keeps order amongst the boys at church — " trouble-
some young dogs" — is known by the elder people as the
" dogwhipper." Five and forty years ago an announcement
appeared in the Exeter Gazette, that Mr. Jonathan Pritchard,
in the employ of the Rev. Chancellor Martin, had been ap-
1 Cripps, p. 203, 6th edition.
193 CHURCH FOLKLORE.
pointed dogwhipper of Exeter Cathedral in the room of Mr.
Charles Reynolds, deceased, and the Vicar of Danby has
told me that up to the middle of the present century this
officer was regularly on duty in his parish. The man
always displayed the lash of his whip, which hung out of
his pocket. The office no longer exists there.
Our American cousins also had similar functionaries, as
will be seen from an entry in the vestry book of Shrews-
bury parish, in the diocese of Maryland, as follows : —
"1725, May 1. Agreed that Thomas Thornton shall keep
and whip the dogs out of the church every Sunday till
next Easter Monday, and also the cattle from about the
churchyard, for a hundred pounds of tobacco." 1
Truly a characteristic mode of payment.
In some parishes what were known as " dog tongs "
were provided, arranged after the fashion of the "lazy
tongs " sometimes used by shopkeepers to reach light goods
from their windows. Thus at the parish church of
Llanynys, near Denbigh, a pair of these exist, which, when
closed, are about 2 feet 6 inches long, and when opened for
use would extend to a distance of 7 or 8 feet. The effect
in church when a dog was gripped by the instrument must
have been interesting. The vicar tells me that no one now
living in the parish remembers their being used. If they
had been used, anybody who happened to be in church
would have remembered it. Those who were at the Rhyl
Church Congress, in 1891, and visited the Ecclesiastical Art
Exhibition, may remember that a pair of wooden dog tongs
formed an item in the loan collection there. They were
the identical pair of which I have just spoken.
According to Mr. J. Charles Cox, F.S.A., there is a similar
instrument preserved in the church of Clynnog-Fawr in
1 Notes and Queries, September ?, 1854.
LAY CHURCH OFFICIALS. 199
the diocese of Bangor. In these the clipping part appears
to have been furnished with short spikes.
The same gentleman describes the old dogwhippers'
implement, such as was commonly in use, as a whip with a
thong about three feet long, fastened to a short ash stick
with a band of twisted leather round the handle. An
article of this kind is preserved in Baslow Church, an
ancient chapel of Bakewell, Derbyshire.
Money was sometimes bequeathed to endow the office.
At Barton Turf, Norfolk, the parish clerk has the rent of
three acres of land called " dogwhippers' land," and the
Vicar of Chislet has sent me the following extract from the
benefaction board in his church : — " Ten shillings are to be
paid yearly to a dogwhipper, charged on an acre of marsh
land belonging to Sir John W. H. Brydges." In the parish
of Peterchurch in Herefordshire an acre of land is appro-
priated to the use of the official who keeps dogs out of
church.
In some places the dogwhipper had another duty to per-
form, viz. that of keeping people awake during sermon
time. Thus Richard Dovey of Farncote in Shropshire, in
1659, charged certain cottages with the payment of eight
shillings to some poor man of the parish of Claverly for
awakening sleepers and turning dogs out of church. The
benefaction board in Trysull Church in Staffordshire states
that John Rudge by his will, dated 1725, gave five shill-
ings a quarter to waken people who slept during sermon
time, to keep dogs out of church, and to clean the church
windows. In the churchwardens' accounts at Barton-on-
Humber appears the following entry : — " 1740. Paid
Brocklebank for waking sleepers, two shillings." At Acton
in Cheshire, and at Dunchurch, a man was, I believe,
specially appointed to perform these duties. The imple-
ment which he used was a stick shaped like a hay fork,
which was fitted on to the sleeper's neck, and it was, no
200 CHURCH FOLKLORE.
doubt, when well pushed home, sufficiently effectual. At
Wolverhampton five shillings is to be paid for keeping boys
quiet during service. No doubt this custom was fairly
general.
In one parish of which I have an account the arrange-
ment for waking sleepers was remarkably complete. The
official who walked about the church had a long wand with
a nob at one end, for the men and boys, and a fox's brush at
the other, with which he tickled the nostrils of the ladies
who happened to be found dozing. This delicate treatment
of the fair sex, even in their erring moments, is worthy of
all commendation and imitation.
Mr. A. J. Munby, F.S.A., tells me that at the east end of
St. Crux Church, York, there is a gate commonly known
as " Whip-ma- wh op-ma Gate," where on Whitsun Tuesday
(he thinks) every passing dog used to be whipped in con-
sequence of a certain dog which had once stolen the Blessed
Sacrament at St. Crux. This is a curious illustration of
the sins of the fathers being visited on the children.
CHAPTER X.
CHUECH FURNITURE — ADJUNCTS, ETC.
I ENTER upon this portion of my subject with fear and
trembling lest I should say something which will not find
favour with, this or that church architect. I must, however,
run the risk, and hope for the best.
It was necessary to speak of pews in the opening chapter
of this book as tending to illustrate certain matters there
dealt with. There are, however, a few more remarks to be
made which may suitably come in here.
Even in the middle of the last century, when pews were
considered everywhere to be the correct thing, we find, as
Mr. A. Ingleby reminds me, that at the rebuilding of West
Wycombe Church, Bucks, somewhere about 1750, open seats
and not square pews were erected, and these, I believe, are
still in use. They formerly faced each other, but are now
turned the other way. And similarly at Quedgeley, Glou-
cestershire, in the early part of this century, there were
only two pews in the church ; and these were evidently
late innovations, the rest were the same low oak benches
which are there now. Of course numerous instances could
be given similar to these, but it was necessary to draw
attention to the fact.
A correspondent whose letter appeared in Notes and
Queries, February 2, 1865, mentions a Puritan pew in Long
Melford Church, Suffolk, " entirely covered in." Upon this
Mr. Benjamin Ferrey, F.S. A., stated that there was another
pew of the kind in the church of Langley Marsh, Bucks.
202 CHURCH FOLKLORE.
It is on the north side, separated from the nave by a
wooden lattice-work. The pew communicates with a small
library of books on divinity, to which the occupant of the
pew might retire without being noticed from the body of
the church.
I am afraid that this description of the " pew " at Langley
Marsh is calculated to be misleading. The church was
built by the Kidderminsters, one of whom, Sir John Kidder-
minster, left a library of divinity for public use, which is-
deposited in the church. The space partitioned off is, I
believe, not really a "pew" in the sense in which we
generally employ the word, but merely a small room into
which those who used the library might go and consult the
books.
Mr. Thomas E. Winnington states that a pew, somewhat
similar to the one described above, is extant in the small
church of Shelsley Walsh, in the valley of the Teme. It is
inclosed with richly carved woodwork to the height of the
rood screen, to which it is adjacent on the south side of the
small nave.
Perhaps the following note may not improperly come in
now that we are considering the question of seats in church.
Dr. Jebb informs us that within the present century the
space in front of the organ loft at Christ Church, Dublin,
was appropriated to the verse singers of the anthem, who
on Sunday mornings came up to the loft for this purpose
only, having occupied their proper places in the choir dur-
ing the rest of the service. This, he adds, was the old.
practice at the Chapel Royal in London, and at St.
Patrick's. 1
Advocates of the "Free and Open" principles in our
churches will scarcely read the next paragraph with satis-
faction. It, however, relates to such a curious usage that I
cannot possibly omit it.
1 Ecchsiologist, October, 1862.
CHURCH FURNITURE — ADJUNCTS, ETC. 20$
The following is, or was, the system pursued at Bury St.
Edmunds, in the election for pews. Every ratepayer has a
vote, and when a vacancy occurs by death or other cause,
printed cards are issued by the new candidates requesting
the favour of votes. Public-houses have been opened, and
bribes offered to the poor to ensure success. Sometimes a
coalition takes place between two candidates, who share
the pew in case of success. On the day of the poll it is
often found necessary to adjourn from the vestry to the
Guild Hall to decide the election, the number of voters bein^
so great. During late repairs or enlargement of acconimoda-
tion at St. James' Church, in the town, all applicants for
pews were expected to deposit " something handsome " in
the hands of the lecturer towards the expenses. 1
A very curious arrangement of the font in the church of
Milton, near Cambridge, is recorded by Mr. Morris Deck.
" It is," he says, " built into the north pier of the chancel
arch, and from the appearance of the masonry, etc., this is*
evidently theoriginal position. I have," he continues, "visited
some hundreds of churches, and this is the only instance I
have observed of a font in this position. Numerous in-
stances occur where it is built into the south-western pier
of the nave."
It would be difficult to enumerate the various abomina-
tions which have taken place in our cathedrals in order to
make room for monuments, often very hideous in them-
selves, of noted men who have departed. Mr. Abbey,
quoting from the Gentleman's Magazine, notes how, in
1799, Carter recorded with indignation that in Westminster
Abbey the font had been altogether removed to make place
for some new monument, and was lying topsy turvy in a
side room.
Scandals and evil customs die hard. We should at the
1 Kcclesivlogist, February, 1843.
204 CHURCH FOLKLORE.
present day probably have to visit a good many churches
before we came upon one in which a common basin was
used for baptism instead of the font itself. Fifty years
ago, however, this was by no means uncommon in parishes
wherein a Puritan incumbent bore sway. It would seem
that the custom was introduced by the Protestant party in
Elizabeth's reign, for we have Archbishop Parker writing
to Lord Burleigh on Nov. 15, 1573, thus : — " I have been of
late shamefully deceived by some young men, and so have
I been by some older men. Experience doth teach. The
world is much given to innovations, never content to stay to
live well. In London our fonts must go down, and the
brazen eagles which were ornaments in the chancel, and
made for lectures, must be molten to make pots and basins
for new fonts."
The object of these wretched fanatics was quite clear.
They hated the sacramental system of the Church, and as
they endeavoured, so far as they could, to degrade the altar,
because it spake to the people of the mystery of the Holy
Eucharist, so they would try their best, by using basins in-
stead of the old fonts, to degrade the sacrament of regenera-
tion. In some cases they were able to get rid of the fonts
altogether, and many of the old ones were destroyed. The
usual way, however, was to put basins into the fonts.
That this was a very common practice is evident from the
fact that in the injunctions of Elizabeth, Oct. 10, 1561,
we read : — "Item, that the font be not removed from the
accustomed place ; and that in Parryshe Churches the
curates take not uppon them to confer baptism in basins,
but in the font customably used."
Unfortunately, irreverence was not confined to the
Puritans of olden time, and there are few of us who could
not mention from their own personal observation many
instances of utter disregard for holy places and things as
shown by English churchmen even at the present time.
CHURCH FURNITURE — ADJUNCTS, ETC. 20J
The subject is far from a pleasant one to dwell upon, and I
will only mention one instance mentioned by a writer in the
Ecclesiologist in April, 1846. He tells us that at East
Shefford, Berks, the singers and musicians sit round the
altar, and use it as a table. It stands a little way off the
east wall, and has seats behind and at the ends for their
convenience. It is difficult to imagine how any clergyman
could have tolerated such a state of things.
We now come to the question of chancel screens as
portions of the post-Reformation furniture in our churches..
Thus there are such screens in St. Mary-le-bow, and St. Os-
wells, Durham, and in the former also returned stalls. Po^t-
Reformation screens may also be seen in the churches at
Billingham, Brancepeth, Sedgetield, Essington, Sherburn
Hospital Chapel, and at various other places.
On the screen of the church of St. Nicholas, Chislelrarst.
(writes the Rev. F. H. Murray, the rector), for about two
hundred years, from the Restoration probably, till 1849,
were these words: "The lion roretb, his strength is an
unicorn," with reference to the royal arms, which were
formerly over the east window.
Eagles placed in the sanctuary, whence the Epistle and
Gospel were read, are very unusual, nevertheless two such
miglit be seen in St. Peter's, the parish church of Liverpool.
At Exeter and Canterbury Cathedrals the eagle desks face
east, and one is used for the Litany. 1
History repeats itself. In 1735, a painting of our Lady
and the Holy Child was placed over the altar of St. James'
Church, Clerkenwell. One Thomas Watson wrote to the
Bishop of London very much in the style of a modern
" Church Associationist," ignoring all forms of law, and
demanding its removal, it being, as he said, " in my judg-
1 Ecclesiologist, 1849 and 1842.
206 CHURCH FOLKLORE.
Tiient a reproach to Protestantism, and very near ally'd to
images." 1
Movable organs and pulpits in churches have not been
altogether unknown of late years. The Rev. Dr. Sparrow-
Simpson, F.S.A., notes that in a pamphlet entitled, " The
Temple Church : an Account of its Restoration and Re-
pairs," by William Burge, published by Pickering in 1843,
is the following passage : — " Mr. Etty justly observes that
an St. Peter's, at the present day, the organ is very small
■compared with the building, and is wheeled about like the
ancient pulpits to different parts of the church '' (p. 34).
Dr. Simpson adds, that King's College Chapel had two in
bis time, which were moved into the choir if required. The
following appears in Wesley's Journal (August 15, 1781).
iSpeaking of the Shrewsbury Hospital as it existed in his
•day Wesley says : — " The pulpit is movable ; it rolls upon
wheels, and is shifted once a quarter, that all the pews may
face it in their turns ; I presume the first contrivance of
the kind in Europe." There is, I have heard, a movable
pulpit in Norwich Cathedral.
In accordance with, or more strictly speaking, as a
development of the injunction in Canon 80, which ordered
that a Bible of the largest volume, the Books of Homilies
allowed by authority, and the Book of Common Prayer,
were to be provided for every church, we find still remain-
ing in many churches books chained to desks for people to
come and read them if they pleased. Of course their use is
wholly obsolete. A more ludicrous idea could scarcely be
■conceived than to suppose that a countryman would go
into the parish church after his work, or on a Sunday
afternoon, to read " Jewel's Apology," or " Foxe's Book of
Martyrs," perhaps in black letter. Some person, however,
i Gentleman's Magazine (1735), pp. 651, 666. Wood-cut of picture
given in same vol., p 679.
CHURCH FURNITURE— ADJUNCTS, ETC. 207
appears to have been interested in the chained books at
Bridlington, Yorkshire, some half century ago, and to have
gone to the church to examine them, for the silver mount-
ings which adorned the binding disappeared, and have
never been seen or heard of since.
I mentioned above the church library at Langley in
Buckinghamshire ; there ^s also a very curious old library
in a chamber — over the vestry, I think — in Wimborne
Minster, where the books are chained to the shelves. This
collection consists of two hundred and forty volumes. The
chains have not saved it from the dishonest spoiler, for
twenty-five volumes are missing of those which were
Catalogued in 1765, and many of those which remain have
fallen, from want of care, into a state of decay.
To give some sort of idea as to the kind of literature
which was in olden time provided in many of our country
churches for the edification of those who could not afford to
buy books for themselves, I may mention a few, and I
purposely take them in the main from parts of the king-
dom widely separated from one another. The instances
cited are, I think, fairly representative.
Impington, Cambridgeshire | " Foxe's Book of Martyrs." Black
[ A collection of cases, and other dis-
St. Nicholas, Rochester ... < courses to recover Dissenters to the
( Church of England.
i Several books, especially " Foxe's
Book of Martyrs," and the "Clavis
Bibliorum of F. Roberts, who was
rector of the parish in 1675.
Malvern Abbey Church, ( De * n Comber's » Companion to the
Worcestershire ...... j Temple," and " A Treahse on Church
Foxe's Book of Martyrs," and
"Jewel's Apology," b
letter. Also " Preserv
Popery," 2 vols., 1738.
Leyland, Lancashire ) !' Jewel's Apology," both in black
" ' ) letter. Also Preservative against
208
CHURCH FOLKLORE.
St. Benet's, Grace Church,
St., London
Kinver, Worcestershire ...
Clew Magna, Somerset ...
Longdon, Tewkesbury
Bridlington, Yorkshire . . .
Bromsgrove
Ecclesfleld, Yorkshire
Little Stanmore, Middlesex
( Erasmu's " Commentary on the Gos-
< pels," with chains attached, in
( possession of the churchwardens.
" Whole Duty of Man ; " " Foxe's
Book of Martyrs;" ''Jewel's Ser-
mon," in Latin.
" Jewel's Defence of the Church.''
Jewel's Works, folio — in parish chest.
( Hooker's "Ecclesiastical Polity," "Jew-
1 el's Controversial Works," Heylin's-
) " Ecclesia Vjndicata," and Comber's
( "Companion to the Temple."
Jewel's Sermon on 1 Cor. ix. 16 (1609).
( Thirteen books " chayned in the
) church," April 25, 1606. "Patris-
~) tic and Mediaeval Commentaries "
' for the most part — Latin, of course.
Many of the prayer books given by the
Duke of Chandos are said, by Mr.
Sperling in his " Walks about
Middlesex " (p. 104), to still remain
chained to the pews for the use of
the poorer parishioners.
From our modern point of view, these (with the excep-
tion of the last) seem to be scarcely the kind of hooks
likely to attract the' general public. I should, however, be
bitterly sorry to have them removed from our churches.
Like the churches themselves, when rightly regarded, they
serve as a chapter in old English Church History, and as
such their loss would be very much to be lamented.
We now come to a very curious piece of church furni-
ture which has fortunately been preserved in many places
as a relic of the past ; it is the hour-glass in the pulpit.
Although the church of St. Alban, Wood Street, in the
city of London, has been "restored," which too often
means having all the history taken out of it, the late rector,
the Rev. H. J. Cummins, told me that Sir Gilbert Scott had
left the old hour-glass, and that it is still to be seen at the
side of the pulpit. The old church of St. Alban was one
CHURCH FURNITURE — ADJUNCTS, ETC. 209
of the eighty-nine churches which were destroyed by the
fire of London in 1666. This church was rebuilt by Sir
Christopher Wren, and finished in 1685. Consequently a
pulpit hour-glass was in use subsequent to that date.
In the churchwardens' accounts in the parish of St.
Helen, Abingdon, Berkshire, is the following entry : —
" Anno mdxcl, 34 Eliz. Payde for an hour-glasse for the
pulpit, 4d."
Under the year 1564 the following entry occurs in the
books of Christ Church, Sfc. Katharine's, Aldgate : — " Paide
for an hour-glass that hangeth by the pulpit when the
preacher doth make a sermon, that he may know how the
hour passeth away."
A question arises in reference to this extract. Is the
word " hour " to be understood as being synonymous with
" time,'' or was it taken for granted that the people ex-
pected the preacher to go on for an hour, and that the
proper thing was for him to close his discourse as soon as
the sand in the upper portion of the glass had run out ?
Not a few persons in most congregations now-a-days
would be thankful if a quarter-of-an-hour-glass were affixed
to the pulpit of the church which they attend, and made a
fixture, so that the preacher could not turn it, as the
Puritan did, saying, " Brethren, let's have another glass
before we part."
The parishioners of Bibury would seem to have been
exceptionally unfortunate in their vicar, for Fosbrooke
mentions an incumbent there, whom he incorrectly (I
think) terms *' rector," who used to preach for two hours,
regularly turning his glass. The squire of the parish ap-
pears to have adapted himself to circumstances, for after
the text had been given out he left the church, " smoaked "
his pipe, and returned for the blessing. 1
The same author tells us that the priest had sometimes
1 "British Monachism," p. 286.
O
2IO CHURCH FOLKLORE.
a, watch supplied to him by the parish. The authority
cited for this is the following entry in the accounts of the
chantry-wardens of a parish in Surrey :— " Received for
priest's watch after he was dead, 13s. 4d." 1
The Cambridge Camden Society in "A Few Hints on
the Practical Study of Ecclesiastical Antiquities," has the
following : — " Hour-glass stand ; a relick of Puritanick
times. They are not very uncommon. They generally
stand on the right hand of the pulpit, and are made of
iron. Examples— Coton ; Shepreth. A curious revolving
one occurs at Stoke dAbernon, Surrey, and in St. John's
Baptist, Bristol, where the hour-glass itself remains.
Though a Puritanick innovation it long kept its place, for
Ga,y, in one of his Pastorals, writes : —
" ' He said that Heaven would take her soul no doubt,
And spoke the hour-glass her praise quite out.'
It is depicted by the side of a pulpit in one of Hogarth's
paintings."
A contributor to Notes and Queries describes two hour-
glass stands, the one at Pilton, near Barnstaple, the other
at; Tawstock, North Devon. In the latter instance it is
displaced, and lies with a quantity of fragments of old
armour, banners, etc., in a room over the vestry. These
stands are similar in form, each representing a man's arm
cut out of sheet iron and gilded, the hand holding the
stand. Turning on a hinge at the shoulder it lay flat on
the panels of the pulpit when not in use. When extended
it would project about a yard.
It is worth while to give the following note from the pen
of Dr. W. Sparrow Simpson, F.S.A., who, writing in 1854,
stated that in the autumn of the previous year he saw an
1 Manning's " Surrey," vol. i., p. 531.
CHURCH FURNITURE — ADJUNCTS, ETC. 211
hour-glass stand still attached to the pulpit in the minster
at Berne.
In that curious place, the island of Axholme, in the
north-west of Lincolnshire — an " island " as being sur-
rounded by the rivers Trent, Don, etc. — there was, accord-
ing to Mr. Edward Peacock, F.S.A., in 1853, when he
visited the place, an iron hour-glass stand affixed to a
pillar on the north side of Belton Church, which is in that
district.
About the middle of the present century there remained
a portion of an hour-glass frame affixed to the pulpit of
Shelsley Beauchamp Church in Worcestershire. When
the church was " restored," as it is called, this little frag-
ment of history was, of course, cleared away ; but was very
wisely preserved as a relic by the Rev. D. Melville, the
rector.
There is an hour-glass in the church of Cowden, Kent,
which is comparatively perfect. The rector, Dr. Burton,
F.S.A., tells me that the tradition is, that before the
rector's death, it will be discovered to be broken. This
actually took place in the case of the last two rectors. It
is now restored to its place once more.
Numerous other instances of pulpit hour-glasses, or at
least their stands, still remaining, might be mentioned.
Here are the names of a few of the churches, in addition to
those already spoken of, in which they were to be seen
forty years ago, but the destructive hand of the " restorer "
may, for all I know, have swept them away. In Norfolk,
at Wiggenhall, Edingford, Salhouse, and South Burling-
ham ; in Worcestershire, at Bishampton ; in Northampton-
shire, at Napington ; in Leicestershire, at Ashby Folville ;
and in Berkshire, at Binfield.
In Salhouse Church there is also remaining a curious
relic in the shape of a bell on the screen between the nave
and the chancel.
212 CHURCH FOLKLORE.
To pass on to other matters. The Rev. Dr. Hardman, of
Bristol, tells me that, in many of the churches in Cornwall,
a large board may be seen on the walls containing a copy
Of King Charles I.'s letter thanking the Cornish people for
their loyalty.
The following transcript of a notice which appeared on
a church door in Devonshire brings to remembrance a
curious old tax which was levied in the days of our fathers
or grandfathers — the Window Tax. Various methods
were adopted to avoid it, some of them being not very
reputable. The warning given by the notice below does
not seem quite the thing to post upon a church door, as it
suggests with sufficient plainness that the people should do
something to cheat the revenue. The paper was taken
down from Chivelstone church door in 1825 by the Rev. C.
Holdsworth, Vicar of Stokenham, and is preserved as a
curious relic by A. F. Holdsworth, Esq. of Widdicombe
House, South Devon. It runs as follows : — ■
" Whoever hath a mind to make any alteration in their
windows are desired to due it to-morrow, as the Sessor
intend to be about the day after, or Wednesday."
Mr. George Tweddell, of Stokesby, tells me that, in
the church of Asby de la Zouch, there are finger-stocks
for the punishment of badly -behaved people, and, so far as
he is aware, the only ones in existence. He writes : — " I
put my ringers in to try it, and when it was closed down I
was as fast as a prisoner could be made. The holes for the
finger-ends are perpendicular, for the remainder of each
finger horizontal, and thus, when the top portion of the
stocks is fastened down there is no escape, as you cannot
get the fingers straightened to draw them out." This im-
plement is fastened to the wall under the west gallery.
Some of the older amongst us remember the " stocks "
CHURCH FURNITURE — ADJUNCTS, ETC. 213
proper being in use. They were, I think mostly employe 1
in cases of drunkenness and disorderly conduct, and were
always set up in some very public place, so that as many
people as possible should see the culprit and take warning.
I have, when a boy, oftentimes seen men in the stocks just
outside the Police Office in Moor Street, Birmingham. I
learn, from the Ecclesiologist of Feb. 1843, that at St. Ives
in Cornwall, and at other places in that county, the parish
stocks were placed and used in the church porch.
Very odd things are sometimes preserved as relics in
churches. For example, in Holy Trinity, Minories, in the
city of London, may be seen in a glass case the head of the
Duke of Suffolk, father of Lady Jane Grey. He was
executed on Tower Hill, and it is evident that the heads-
man made a bad shot the first time, and that the axe
fell at the back of the skull, and could not sever the neck.
The second blow lower down was more successful. The
head is a ghastly object, and I do not recommend anybody
to go and see it.
In the Church Times of Feb. 27, 1880, the following
letter appeared from Mr. J. W. Hatchett, of Lothian Road,
North Brixton. It relates to what is commonly known
as the " Branks " or " The Scold's Bridle." Those who pass
along some of the lower class streets in London may some-
times be sorry that it is not still in use.
" The church vestry of Walton-on-Thames contains a
bridle constructed of steel to fit the human head. It con-
sists of flat steel bands forming a network over the head,
face, and round the nose, with a flat piece going in the
mouth and fixing the tongue. It padlocks behind. It
bears this inscription :
' Chester presents Walton with a bridle
To curb women's tongues that talk idle.'
214 CHURCH FOLKLORE.
There is also a date, and it is rusty vvitli age. Belonging
to a neighbouring parish, I saw it when a boy, and tried
it on.
" I have heard two tales of its origination. (1) The man
Chester, who lost considerable monies through the tongue
of a female parishioner, presented it. (2) A woman apply-
ing for relief, being asked her parish, replied Chester, where
she was sent, as was the custom, but, finding it a false-
hood, Chester returns her bridled to Walton."
Most persons interested in antiquarian matters have
heard of " Mother Ludlam's kettle," about the origin of
which there has been a good deal of divergent speculation.
Tradition says that in years gone by there was a witch
named Mother Ludlam, who lived in a cave in the side of
a hill overlooking the valley of Waverley, and a cauldron,
which is said to have belonged to her, is still preserved in
Frensham Church. The Rev. 0. C. S. Langr, Rector of
Frensham, near Farnham, Surrey, has been good enough to
send me the following description of the vessel. " The
dimensions are as follows : — 32£ inches in diameter, 19|
inches deep, hammered out of a single sheet of copper,
having an iron rim to which it is riveted, with drop-ring
handles. There is an iron stand belonging to it with three
legs, which raises it about a foot from the ground. It is
mentioned, I believe, in all the old histories of Surrey."
Mr. Lang adds, " It is said that no one can use the cauldron
without ill fortune, and certainly the only time that I
attempted to do so I broke the glass vessel with which I
was experimenting in the cauldron full of water." Mother
Ludlam's kettle is now kept in the basement of the tower
of Frensham Church. For further particulars and local tra-
ditions, see Smith's " History of Farnham and Waverley
Abbey," published in 1829.
CHAPTER XL
HOLY DAYS AND SEASONS, AND THEIR CUSTOMS.
The customs which in the past were connected with holy-
days and seasons were so numerous that it is difficult
amongst the mass of material to know what to take and
what to reject. It is also puzzling at times to distinguish
those which really have a religious origin and others which
seem to be purely secular. The border line between the
two is often so faintly marked that it is no easy matter in
these days to say where the one ends and the other begins.
That which makes it the more puzzling is the fact that
many of the customs which had, no doubt, a distinctly
religious origin, have, in the course of years, become so
secularised that their early history is lost in obscurity. In
this volume it is no part of my design to investigate such
matters critically, as I am writing for the instruction and
amusement of the general public, and not for the edification
of scientific antiquaries. These latter require a riper
knowledge and an abler pen than mine.
There appear to be scarcely any special usages connected
with St. Andrew's Day (November 30th). Mr. Walcot,
F.S.A., tells us, however, that when St. Paul's Walk was
a fashionable place of meeting, there was a club of persons
who used to assemble at the reputed tomb of Duke Hum-
phery, on the morning of that day, and afterwards to dine
together as if they were servants in his household. 1
What the origin of the following usage can be I am un-
1 Walcot's "Cathedrals," p. 82.
2 'S
2l6 CHURCH FOLKLORE.
able to suggest, but at Bozeat in Northamptonshire a bell
is rung at noon on St. Andrew's Day, and the villagers
call it " T Andrew Bell." They make and eat a kind of
sweet toffee on that day.
The old rule for finding the first Sunday in Advent ran
thus : —
" Saint Andrew the king,
Three weeks and three days before Christmas comes in ;
Three days after, or three days before,
Advent Sunday knocks at the door."
Mr. W. Chatterton Dix tells me that he remembers in his
earlier days that at the church of St. Mary's, RedclifT,
Bristol, it was the custom on Advent Sunday to place a few
evergreens in the pulpit, desk, and churchwardens' pew.
This was discontinued some twenty or more years ago.
It was formerly the custom in the north of England for
poor women to carry about during Advent a couple of
dolls dressed, the one to represent the Saviour and the
other the Virgin Mary. A halfpenny was expected from
every person to whom they were exhibited. It was
esteemed a sign of very bad luck to any household that
had not been visited by the " Advent Images " before
Christmas Eve at the latest. The bearers of the images
sung the well-known carol, beginning: —
" The first good joy that Mary had, it was the joy of one."
In Yorkshire there was formerly a saying, " As unhappy
as the man that has not seen the Advent Images." 1 Later
on the reader will find a record of a somewhat similar
custom still surviving in South Devon on May Day.
Another name was given to the Advent Images custom.
It was sometimes called going about with the " Vessel
1 "Book of Days," vol. ii., p. 725.
HOLY DAYS AND SEASONS. 2\J
Cup," which, of course, was a corruption of " Wassail Cup,"
and denoted the good-will of the Image bearer towards
those who gave her a present. The following verse was
sometimes suds : —
" God bless the master of this house,
The mistress also,
And all the little children
That round the table go."
The late Dr. J. M. Neale, in his " Essays on Liturgiology," 1
remarks that it is curious that the season of Advent should
have retained its Latin name everywhere. He adds that
the Sundays were not always reckoned in the same way,
the more usual method being to count the first as fourth,
and that nearest Christmas as the first.
St. Thomas' Day (December 21) was another occasion on
which in many parts of the country the poor folk
went round to the houses of their richer neighbours in the
hope of getting the means of enjoying themselves at the
■coming Christmas tide. In some places it was called
"going a gooding." In certain districts the festival was
called " Doleing Day," and in others " Mumping Day."
" Mumping " is from a Dutch word, and one of its recog-
nised meanings, according to old Wick Bailey, is to "beg."
Those who are familiar with the Spectator may remember
that in one of his essays, Addison uses the word thus : —
" The mumpers, the halt, and the blind." In Warwick-
shire, Chambers tells us that the custom which is being
•described was called " going a corning," from the poor folk
■carrying a bag, into which the farmers put corn. A con-
tributor to Notes and Queries, in 1857, stated that the
•custom of " gooding " then existed in full force in Stafford-
shire, where all the poor folk went out on St. Thomas' Day
1 P. 509.
218 CHURCH FOLKLORE.
in quest of alms. The clergyman was expected to give a.
shilling to each applicant, and all the well-to-do inhabitants,
contributed something either in money or in kind. The
same writer tells us that at Harrington in Worcestershire
it is customary for the children to go round the village on
St. Thomas' Day, begging for apples, and singing : —
" Wassail, wassail, through the town,
If you've got any apples, throw them down ;
Up with the stocking and down with the shoe,
If you've got no apples, money will do ;
The jug is white and the ale is brown,
This is the best house in the town."
It appears that in former times those who received
money or other gifts on these occasions recognised them by
presenting to the donors sprigs of holly or mistletoe-
Besides the usual donations received, it was not unusual for
the women to be regaled at the houses of the squires and
farmer with hot spiced ale, of which they frequently hadmore
than they could conveniently carry away with them. It is-
curious to notice how, in all ages and countries, eating and
drinking almost always formed an item in religious or
quasi-religious observances.
The Rev. R. Noble Jackson has told me that on St.
Thomas' Day at Winchcombe, the old people and children
go from house to house begging for small sums of money.
This they call " Thomasing."
A host of old-world usages cluster round Christinas Eve
and Christmas Day of course. Carols and carol singing, I
think, ought to hold the first place. Perhaps the oddest
sheet of carols ever printed is that mentioned by Hone in
his " Every Day Book." It is headed, " Christus natus est.''
There is below a wood-cut ten inches high, and eight and a
half inches wide, representing the stable at Bethlehem,.
Christ in the crib, watched by His mother and St. Joseph,.
HOLY DAYS AND SEASONS. 2I£
shepherds kneeling, angels attending, a man playing on
the bagpipes, a woman with a basket of fruit on her head,
a sheep bleating, an ox lowing, a crow cawing on the bay-
rack, a cock crowing above them, and angels singing in the
sky. The creatures have labels in their mouths bearing
Latin inscriptions. Down the side of the wood-cut is the
following : — " A religious man, inventing the conceits of
both birds and beasts drawn in the picture of our Saviour's
birth, doth thus express them : The cock croweth, Ghristus
natws est, Christ is born. The raven asketh, Quando ?
When ? The crow replieth, Hoc node, This night. The
ox crieth out, Ubil ubi? Where? where ? The sheep bleateth
out, Bethlehem, Bethlehem. A voice from Heaven sounded,
' Gloria in Excelsis ' — Glory be on high. London :
printed and sold by J. Bradford in Little Briton, the corner
house, over against the pump, 1701. Price one penny."
Hone's book was published in 1826, and he speaks of the
fondness of the Welsh for carols at that date. He adds
that formerly the Welsh folk " had carols adapted to most
of the church festivals, and to the four seasons of the year,
but in our times they are limited to that of Christmas."
And he states further that, after the turn of midnight on
Christmas Eve, service is performed in the churches, fol-
lowed by the singing of carols to the harp.
There are two usages connected with Christmas Eve
which, undoubtedly, have come down to us from heathen
times. One of these is the well-known privilege connected
with the misletoe. This plant, as everybody knows, was
held in the greatest veneration by the Druids, especially
when, as occasionally happened, it was found attached to
the oak. The other is the burning of the Yule log. What
is the derivation of " Yule " ? is a question much discussed,
but without any really satisfactory result. The Yule log
was, no doubt, originally burnt as a sacrifice to Odin or
Wodin, the father of Thor, according to Scandinavian
220 CHURCH FOLKLORE.
mythology. It was formerly the custom to put aside a
partially burnt portion of the log, and to keep it till the
following Christmas. Then the new log was lighted with
remnants of the old one. Herrick refers to this when he
sings : —
" With the last year's brand
Light the new block, and
For good success on his spending,
On your psalteries play,
That sweet luck may
Come while the log is a-teending."
Chambers 1 tells us that in Devonshire an " Ashton fag-
got '' takes the place of the Yule log. In Cornwall the
Christmas log is known by the name of " Mock."
A belief was long current in Devon and Cornwall, and
perhaps still lingers both there and in other remote parts of
the country, that at midnight on Christmas Eve the cattle
in their stalls fall down on their knees in adoration of the
infant Saviour, in the same manner as legend reports them
to have done in the stable at Bethlehem. Bees are also
said to sing in their hives at the same time, and bread
baked on Christmas Eve was supposed never to become
mouldy. All nature was believed to unite in celebrating
the birth of Christ, and to partake in the general joy which
the anniversary of the Nativity inspired.
Hone, writing in the earlier part of the century, speaks
of a curious custom in connection with carol singing which
was, at that time, observed in the Isle of Thanet, and with
which the Christmas festivities began. A party of young
people procured the head of a dead horse, which was fixed
to a pole about four feet in length. A string was tied to
the lower jaw, and a horse-cloth was then attached to the
whole, under which one of the party got, and, by pulling
the string, kept up a loud snapping noise. The rest of the
1 "Book of Days," ii., 736.
HOLY DAYS AND SEASONS. 221
party, grotesquely habited, rang hand-bells. They thus
went from house to house sounding their bells and singing
carols and songs. They were commonly gratified with beer
and cake, or perhaps with money. This was provincially
called a " hodening, and the figure above described as a
" hoden," or wooden horse. It was supposed to be an
ancient relic of a festival ordained to commemorate our
Saxon ancestors landing in that island. '
A correspondent, whose letter appears in the same volume,
states that, near the village of Kaleigh, there is a valley
said to have been caused by an earthquake several hundred
years ago, which swallowed up a whole village together
with the church. Formerly it was the custom for people
to assemble in this valley on Christmas Day morning to
listen to the ringing of the bells beneath them. This, it.
was positively asserted, might be heard by putting the ear
to the ground and listening attentively. Even now (adds
the writer) it is usual on Christmas morning for the old
men and women to tell their young friends to go to the
valley, stoop down, and hear the bells ring merrily. 2
In his " Exeter Fifty Years Since," Mr. Cousins states
that, at seven o'clock on Christmas Day, previous to morn-
ing prayers, the tune to the Hundredth Psalm was played
on the cathedral organ, the chorister boys singing the
words in the minstrel gallery, which was provided with
candles. Hundreds of people attended, but, in consequence
of the unruly conduct of parties who had accompanied the
various choirs during the night singing anthems and carols
(which was very general then), the dean and chapter put a
stop to the custom.
At Hucknall Torkard in Nottinghamshire, until lately
the children, who went about singing carols at Christmas,
used to take with them a box in which was a doll decked
1 " Every Day Book," vol. ii., p. 1643.
a Ibid, p. 1650.
222 CHURCH FOLKLORE.
•out. The custom had not been observed in other villages
in the neighbourhood, at least in recent times. In the
West Riding of Yorkshire the practice is very common. 1
A contributor to Notes and Queries in 1873 says that,
when he was a boy, the colliers at Llwynymaen, two miles
from Oswestry, were in the habit, during the evening of
Christmas week, of carrying from house to house in the
town boards covered with clay, in which were stuck lighted
candles. This was done at Christmas, not at Candlemas,
and only by the colliers. This was probably an ancient
usage, and intended to indicate the birth of the " Light of
the World." 2
The Cambrian Journal of September, 1857, and "Tales
and Traditions of Tenby," supply me with the following
item.
On Christmas Day, at four o'clock in the morning, it was
in past days customary at Tenby for the young men of the
town to escort the rector with lighted torches from his house
to the church. Extinguishing their torches in the porch,
they went into the early service, and when it was ended the
torches were re-lighted, and the procession returned to the
rectory, the bells chiming till the time of the usual morning
service. This custom in the Welsh districts is called Pylgain,
•or Plygain, which means " The Morning Light."
A lady at Swansea has informed me that at St. Peter's
Church, Carmarthen, an early service used to be held on
Christmas morning within the memory of persons now
living. The church was lighted with coloured candles,
carried thither on that occasion by the congregation. The
early Christmas service was, I believe, held in many Welsh
churches, but the name " Pylgain " which was given to it is
now applied by the Welsh Wesleyans to their Watch Night
services.
1 Notes aibd Queries, December 22, 1877.
- Ibid.,, December 13, 1873.
HOLY DAYS AND SEASONS. 223
It was the custom at St. Asaph, Caerwys, at a house with
"which my informant was acquainted, for the fire to be
made upon Christmas Eve, and a leg of beef to be put on to
boil down for broth at eight o'clock. Then everybody
went to bed, and rose at four or five to go to church for
Plygain, which, in this instance, was the name given to
carol singing. The clergyman sang the first carol (or, per-
haps, the first verse of a carol) and the clerk the second.
Then the carols were sung round the church in procession.
This was over about seven. There were basins of hot broth
for any who chose to come to the house in question — servants
— their friends — and neighbours. This, my informant
thinks, had been the usage in the house for a hundred years
and more.
The Rev. J. Moore of Minsterley, Salop, tells me that old
people there can remember it a universal custom not to light
a fire on Christmas Day, except with fire borrowed from a
neighbour's house.
About 1835, died the Rev. George Alderson, who had been
for nearly sixty years rector of the out-of-the-way village
of Birkin, Ferrybridge, Yorkshire. In his days it was the
custom for the clerk to present the rector with a nosegay of
flowers before the beginning of the morning service on
Christmas Day. This nosegay the rector carried with him
wherever he went, to desk, pulpit, or altar, during the
service. It was a difficult matter, of course, to get flowers
at that time of year, but the clerk always got enough to
make a good bunch.
Until the last twenty or thirty years it was the custom
for the choir to sing anthems and carols on the top of the
church tower at Crondall, Hants. Mr. S. Cranstone, parish
clerk, tells me that this was an old custom in the days of
his grandfather.
Of customs connected with St. Stephen's T)a.y (January
26) I can find very little record. In the north of England
224 CHURCH FOLKLORE.
it was known as "Wrenniug Day," from the custom of
stoning a wren to death in cruel commemoration of St.
Stephen's martyrdom.
Holy Innocent's Day (January 28), also called "Childermas
Day,' ; has always had a veil of sorrow over it. In many
places in olden time the Gloria in Excelsis was not used,
nor the Te Deum, nor the Gloria Patri. The church
colour was formerly black or violet. A trace of this still
survives, or till recently did survive, in the custom of ring-
ing a muffled peal on that day at Leigh-upon-Mendip, and
at several other places which might be mentioned. Until a
very recent period, remarks Dr. Neale, not only the day
itself, but the same day in every week of the succeeding year,
was considered highly unlucky. So the Spectator tells us
of his superstitious hostess: — "As they began to talk of
famity affairs, a little boy at the lower end of the table told
her that he was to go in to 'join hand' on Thursday.
'Thursday,' says she ; ' no, child, if it pleases God, you shall
not begin on Childermas Day. Tell your writing master
that Friday will be soon enough.' "
It is said that the idea of the inauspicious nature of
Childermas Day is still retained in some parts of England.
Thus in Cornwall, housewives scrupulously refrain from
scouring or scrubbing on December 28.
Very little account seems to have been taken in time past
of the Festival of the Circumcision (January 1). The fact
of its being coincident with New Year's Day has thrown it
into obscurity. Apart from the wassailing with which the
New Year was always ushered in by our forefathers, there
is little or nothing to be noticed in connection with this
Festival. It is not, I believe, unusual to ring a muffled peal
on the death of the old year, and to remove the mufflers at
midnight so as to salute the birth of the new year in joyous
fashion. The Vicar of East Dereham, Norfolk, has told me
that this is an old custom in his parish.
HOLY DAYS AND SEASONS. 225
Almost the only distinctly religious ceremony connected
with the Festival of the Epiphany was the offering on that
day, by the Monarch, of gold, frankincense, and myrrh in
imitation of the Magi. The form which this ceremony took
a century ago was as follows: — The King, preceded by
heralds, pursuivants, and the Knights of the Garter, Thistle,
and Bath, in the collars of their respective Orders, went to
the Royal Chapel of St. James, and offered gold, myrrh, and
frankincense. Since the illness of George III., the proces-
sion, and even the personal appearance of the Monarch,
have been discontinued. Two gentlemen from the Lord
Chamberlain's office now appear instead, attended by one
carrying a box ornamented at the top with a spangled star,
from which they take the gifts above mentioned, and place
them on an alms dish held forth by the officiating priest.
It was formerly the custom of the Lord Mayor, Alder-
men, and the London Guilds to go to St. Paul's on Twelfth
Day to hear a sermon. This was spoken of as an old
custom in Queen Elizabeth's reign. When it was given up,
and why, I am unable to discover.
A gentleman living in the neighbourhood has told me
that at Aid borough, near Boroughbridge, in the West
Riding, the Parish Feast is held on the Festival of the
Epiphany. The ceremonial is peculiai-. A number of
villagers, farm labourers, etc., dress in an eccentric manner
as shepherds, and parade the parish every here and there,
executing quaint dances to the music of a concertina or a
riddle. They are preceded by a horn-blower, who, at
intervals, sounds his instrument. Formerly they carried
a doll dressed up in a fantastic way, and this, no doubt,
was a relic of the Roman " Bambino." They also, until a
few years ago, used to mount a set of stone steps which
still exist on the village green. Then the best speaker
among them called out the name of every man resident in
Aldborough, proclaiming his besetting weakness, and
226 CHURCH FOLKLORE.
according to his popularity or otherwise, bestowing upon
him a fanciful nickname. This became so very objection-
able that the late Lord of the Manor put a stop to it. The
quasi-shepherds still perambulate the parish with the horn
and fiddle. The custom is one of great antiquity, and its
origin is lost in obscurity, though it is quite evident that it
was based upon a religious idea.
At Padstow in Cornwall it was, the custom, so late as
1859, for the rustics to set up a pitcher at a convenient
distance on the eve of the Conversion of St. Paul (January
25) and to throw stones at it. It was called "Paul's
Pitcher Day." The pitcher was pelted until it was entirely
demolished. Of course jollification and drinking succeeded
the stone-throwing.
Evidently this custom was in commemoration of the part
which St. Paul took in the martyrdom of St. Stephen, and
the fact that it was observed on the eve of the Festival,
and not on the day itself, gives it a special signifi-
cation.
It must be left for weather-wise folk to judge of the truth
of the remark of a Huntingdonshire rustic — "We shall have
a fine spring because St. Paul's Day is fine.'' He was re-
ferring to the old adage : —
" If St. Paul be fair and clear,
Then betides a happy year.''
On the eve of Candlemas (February 2) it was formerly
the custom in Nottinghamshire to decorate both the
churches and the houses with branches of box, and to light
up a number of candles in the evening, as being the last
day of the Christmas rejoicing. There is still a well-known
saying : —
" On Candlemas Day
Throw candles away.''
HOLY DAYS AND SEASONS. 227
In connection with this Festival the old Latin proverb is
well known : —
" Si Sol splendescat Maria purificante,
Major erit glaoies post festum quam fuit ante.''
A writer in the " County Almanac " for 1676, under
"February," has turned the saying into English on this
wise : —
" Foul weather is no news ; hail, rain, and snow
Are now expected, and esteemed no woe ;
Nay, 'tis an omen bad, the yeomen say,
If Phoebus shows his face the second day."
It is said that in Cumberland the Festival of the Purifica-
tion is known as " Coat-lap day." To the meaning of this
I can give no clue.
In years gone by, Candlemas was specially observed at
the Temple Church and at Eipon. Mr. Walcot says that so
late as 1790, on the Sunday before Candlemas Day, the
Collegiate Church was one continued blaze of light all the
afternoon, a vast number of candles being lighted,
We now come to Shrove Tuesday, and it is noticeable
that in England it carries with it its distinctively religious
name — i.e. the Tuesday for confession or shriving, as a
preparation for the coming Lenten fast. This is the more
striking when it is contrasted with the popular name given
to the day in the three leading Roman Catholic countries
on the Continent, Italy, Spain, and France. In each case
the name by which it is commonly known has simply re-
ference to the Carnival. The term Mardi gras is familiar to
everybody. Strangely enough in Protestant Germany the
day is commonly known as Fastendienstag, or Fast
Tuesday — i.e., I suppose, the Tuesday before the Fast.
We cannot, however, be surprised that most of the
228 CHURCH FOLKLORE.
customs which are connected with Shrove Tuesday should
relate to its carnival character, and everybody recognises
what is meant when they hear " pancake day " spoken of.
But there are one or two Shrovetide usages which are not
so familiar to the general public.
At Wellington in Shropshire there was, and perhaps still
is, a custom for the children on Shrove Tuesday to meet in
the churchyard and blow trumpets. These all joined hands
and formed a ring round the outside of the church, and the
trumpets were again blown. 1 A similar custom was
followed, I believe, at Beckington, Somersetshire, not many
years ago. More details relating to this curious usage have
been given in an earlier part of this volume, 2 under the
heading of " Clipping the Church."
A former vicar of Kirby Grinderlyth, Yorkshire, has
told me that, in his part of the East Riding, Shrove
Tuesday is called " Ball Day," and the school-children
expect a half-holiday on purpose to play at ball.
There is another odd name given to the day. It is said
that at Eccleshall in Staffordshire Shrove Tuesday is called
" Goodtet." It has been suggested that the word is a cor-
ruption of "Good Tide," i.e. holyday or festival. In
" Halliwell's Archaeological Dictionary " it is stated that the
term " Good-day '' is used in Staffordshire to signify a holy-
day, and in the nortli " Gooddit " represents Shrovetide.
In some places Shrove Tuesday is called " Goodies Tues-
day," and " Good-time " is the common term to indicate a
festival. 3
The following is a fair specimen of a very widely spread
usage on the morning of the day immediately preceding
Lent — that of poor people or their children going from house
1 Notes mid Queries, March 18, and April 15, 1876
2 P. 19.
3 Notes and Queries, April 20, and May 18, 1850.
HOLY DAYS AND SEASONS. 229
to house in their parishes, begging for contributions towards
the customary feast or carnival.
It is, I believe, a traditional custom in the Isle of Wight
for the children to go round their respective parishes on
the morning of Shrove Tuesday, singing : —
" Shroving, sh'roving, I am come a-shroving ;
White bread and apple pie,
My mouth is very dry,
I wish I were well awet,
As I could sing for a nut.
" Shroving, shroving, I am come a-shroving,
A piece of bread, a piece of cheese,
A piece of your fat bacon ;
Dough nuts and pancakes,
All your own making.
Shroving, shroving," etc.
We now come to Lent, and there are more indications
that it was religiously observed by our forefathers than is
generally supposed. During the reign of Elizabeth steps
were taken officially to secure the fulfilment of the Church's
rule of fasting. From Strype's " Annals " we learn that in
1560 a proclamation was put out at the beginning of Lent,
that any butcher who killed animals for food during the
season should be fined £20 for each time that he did so.
Heylin, in his " Historj' of the Reformation," written dur-
ing this reign, speaks of the weekly fasts, the Embering
weeks, together with the Fast of the Rogation, as being
" severely kept " by a forbearance of all kind of flesh. He
is careful to point out that this was not by virtue of
• the statute, as in the time of King Edward, but as ap-
pointed by the Church in her public Calendar before the
Book of Common Prayer. The Queen seems to have been
very strict in the matter of Lenten observance, and the
people would be pretty sure to follow her lead. Of herseL
230 CHURCH FOLKLORE.
we are told that she appointed some of the most noted of
the clergy to preach before her on the Wednesdays, Fridays,
and Saturdays during Lent, and that she always wore
black when she went to hear them, " according to the com-
mendable custom of her predecessors."
With a rule so rigid as that noticed above, it was
necessary, from charitable considerations, to make certain
exceptions in favour of the aged and infirm; and such
exceptions prove the rule. Strype, in his life of Parker,
states that certain dispensations were granted upon reason-
able causes. Thus he cites the case of John Foxe, the
martyrologist, a spare, sickly man, whom the Archbishop
permitted to eat meat in Lent because of his " bad stomach."
Applications for dispensation had to be made, accompanied
by a physician's certificate. If the doctors were not more
worthy of credit than the " martyrologist," such certificates
could not have been worth much. We are, however, told
that the Primate refused more of these applications than
he accepted, which showed that he had no great faith in
the vouchers.
Archbishop Whitgift (1601), again, was very strict in
this matter of Lent, but, in consideration for sick and in-
firm persons, a few butchers had license to kill beasts for
meat during the annual fast ; but the permission extended
only to such meat as was fitted for sickly persons to eat.
Of course the butchers took liberties, and exceeded the
terms of the archiepiscopal permission, and they were
threatened with trouble about it with the Mayor of Canter-
bury.
It was but natural that the strictness of Lenten observ-
ance, as it existed in Queen Elizabeth's reign, should, as
time went on, become relaxed. There was, however, a good
deal of earnestness among the better class of the clergy in
favour of Lenten abstinence during the reigns of William
and Anne. John Wesley, for instance, was strong upon
HOLY DAYS AND SEASONS. 23 I
the matter, for whatever his modern so-called followers
may say, he sympathised with High Churchmanship, and
was most anxious that the Church's rules should be carried
out.
Mr. Abbey calls attention to a paper of Steele's in the
Guardian, especially addressed, in Lent, 1713, to careless
men of pleasure, and begs them not to ridicule a season set
apart for humiliation. Even during the dark days of
the last century, a certain respect was shown to Lent as a
specially solemn time. Mr. Walcot tells us that, at Roches-
ter Cathedral, " the choir was silent on Litany days in
Lent ; " and even people of fashion, though they perhaps
would not entirely forego their pleasures during the sacred
season, paid a certain respect to it by wearing mourning
when they went to the theatre, and the ordinary levities of
society were distinctly toned down. In the earlier part of
the present century it was considered the correct thing for
ladies, during the forty days, to put on a more sombre garb
than they usually wore. Mr. Chatterton Dix tells me that,
until late years, the churches in Bristol were hung with
black during Lent, and that the Cathedral has been similarly
treated since its restoration. At York Minster the choir-
boys wore black gowns instead of surplices during Advent
and Lent ; and a writer in Notes and Queries of April 20,
1872, stated that, fifty years previous to that date, it was
the custom for the " Protestant Episcopal " clergymen in
Philadelphia to lay aside the surplice, and to assume the
black gown for prayers as well as for preaching.
Mid-Lent, or the fourth Sunday in Lent, has for long
been known as " Mothering Sunday." This name arose
from the practice of young people, after they had left home
for service, getting a holyday in the middle of Lent in order
to pay a visit to their parents. They generally took with
them some small gift or trifling delicacy. Amongst these
latter a favourite one was a "Simnel Cake," which in ap-
232 CHURCH FOLKLORE.
pearance was something like a raised pork pie, and it had
in it a mixture of rich materials, after the nature of a plum
cake. Concerning these Herrick sings : —
" I'll to thee a Simnel bring,
'Gainst thou go a'mothering ;
So that when she blesses thee,
Half that blessing thou'lt give me."
These simnels were chiefly used in Herefordshire and
Shropshire, I believe. The meaning of the word " Simnel "
has been much disputed. In Gloucestershire " Mothering
Cakes " are still common. At Cheltenham they were, and
perhaps still are, made something after the fashion of
urince-pies.
" Fig-pie Wake " is kept at Draycott-le-Moors in Stafford-
shire on Mid-Lent Sunday. The pies are made of dried
figs, sugar, treacle, spice, etc. They are rather luscious for
those who are not to the manner born. On this Sunday
the friends of the parishioners come to visit them, and to
eat the fig-pies. In parts of Oxfordshire figs are eaten on
Palm Sunday in remembrance, it may be, of the fig-tree
without fruit which was cursed for its barrenness. It is
believed that this custom dates from the times when the
Church did not allow meat to be eaten, even on the Sun-
days in Lent, and fig-pies were served up as the richest
food available
At Usk in Monmouthshire the custom of " Mothei'ing "
on Mid-Lent Sunday is so scrupulously observed that the
aspect of the congregation on that day is, the vicar tells
me, very curious, as so many familiar faces are absent, and
so many strange faces take their place.
In the north, more particularly in Cumberland, Passion
Sunday, or the fifth Sunday in Lent, is called " Carling
Sunday ,' ; from the custom of having a sort of pea, called a
HOLY DAYS AND SEASONS. 233
"" Carling Nut," steeped and fried in butter. A kind of
pancake is made of these, and is eaten with pepper and salt.
The children are accustomed to count the Sundays from
the fourth Sunday in Lent to Easter by the following
■couplet : —
' ' Tid-Mid, Misera,
Carlings, Palms, Pace Egg Day."
" Tid-niid " means, I presume, mid-tide, or the middle of
Lent, and " Pace Egg," of course, signifies Easter.
I am told that it is esteemed the correct thing to eat
carlings between meals, and to let the children have some
•of the dry nuts to play with on Carling Sunday.
There was a very curious custom observed on Palm Sun-
day at Sellack Church, Herefordshire, within the last
hundred years. On that day one of the churchwardens
came round and presented to the clergyman first, and then
to each member of the congregation in his seat, a small
bun, and his son followed immediately after him with a
horn of cider for each person. At the presentation of each
the words "Peace and good neighbourhood" were said,
and the bun and cider were then consumed by each person
before leaving the church.
The Caistor " Gad-whip " custom has been so often de-
scribed that any mention of it would seem almost super-
fluous. However, it would not be right to omit it entirely
when dealing with Palm Sunday usages.
Briefly put, it may be described as follows : — Every
Palm Sunday a man, representing the proprietor of the
Broughton estate, comes into Caistor Church porch while
the First Lesson is being read and cracks what is called a
" Gad-whip " three times. He then enters the church, and
takes his place there among the congregation. During the
-Second Lesson he goes up to the clergyman holding the
whip upright. Tied to it is a bag containing thirty pieces
234 CHURCH FOLKLORE.
of silver. He then kneels down before the clergyman, and
waves the whip three times round his head, and continues-
kneeling till the end of the Lesson. He then retires.
These are the terms upon which the Broughton property
is held. The thirty pieces of silver, of course, have refer-
ence to the sum of money for which Judas betrayed our
Lord. I must refer my readers to the many descriptions
of this curious custom, which have been published, for an
explanation of the ceremony.
Near Avebury in Wiltshire is a mound called Silbury
Hill. It is an old custom for the people to climb this hill
on Palm Sunday to eat fig cakes and drink sugar and
water, the latter brought from the Swallow Head, or spring
of the river below. 1
At St. Julian's, Shrewsbury, it was formerly the custom
to use simply muscadine wine for the Holy Communion
on all days except Palm Sunday, on which occasion a.
" pottle of claret " was used, in addition to the muscadine.
This information is extracted from the churchwarden's
accounts of that parish in 1622. 2 No doubt this mixture
was intended to symbolise the draught of wine mingled
with vinegar, which was offered to our Blessed Lord at the
Crucifixion.
A late incumbent of Minsterley, Salop, told me that on
Palm Sunday, fifty or sixty years ago, the people used to
turn out to Pontesford Hill, a prominent eminence in that
part, for the purpose of finding the golden arrow. I have
no clue to the meaning of this. At Minsterley, Palm Sun-
day has always been marked by the church being decorated
with willow branches. These, I presume, were supposed
to be the nearest approach to palms which could be ob-
tained.
In various parts of the county of Durham it was the
1 Notes and Queries, March 31, 1877.
"Ibid., October 13, 1883.
HOLY DAYS AND SEASONS. 235
custom within living memory for tbe people to make
willow crosses for Palm Sunday. The early catkins were
made to form the extremities of the aims of the cross.
They were tied with blue or pink ribbon, with bows here
and there, and were often very tasteful and pretty.
At Winchester and in the neighbourhood there is, or was,
an idea that from whatever quarter the wind blows on
Palm Sunday, it will continue to blow from that same
quarter (for the most part) during the year. 1
Kendal would not seem to be exactly the place for any-
one to choose if he wished to spend a quiet Maundy Thurs-
day. It is customary there, as I am told, for parties of
half a dozen or so little boys and girls to get each an
old tin can, and to tie a string to it. One of each group
starts off with it at a good pace trailing the can after him,
and the others run behind striking the can with sticks,
and singing, —
' ' Trot liearen, trot horn,
Good Friday, la morn,"
whatever that may mean. They continue this until the
can is knocked to pieces.
The distinctive ceremonial, peculiar to Maundy Thurs-
day, was that of people of exalted social position humbling
themselves, as was supposed, by washing the feet of poor
folk on that day. This custom dates from very early
times, and it was doubtless intended as a suitable prepara-
tion for Good Friday, and was an imitation of the act of
our Blessed Lord in washing the feet of His disciples
as related in St. John xiii., with especial reference to
the fourteenth verse, where we read Christ's words : " If I,
then, your Lord and Master, have washed your feet, ye
ought also to wash one another's feet." It was formerly
the custom in England for the King on Maundy Thursday
1 Notes and Queries, April 6, 1850.
236 CHURCH FOLKLORE.
to wash with his own hands the feet of as many poor men
as he was years old. After this, food and money were
given them. This ceremony was performed at Greenwich
by Queen Elizabeth when she was thirty-nine years of age.
Chambers tells us that she was attended by thirty -nine
ladies, and that thirty-nine poor persons had first their feet
washed by the yeomen of the laundry with warm water
and sweet herbs ; afterwards by the sub-almoner, and
lastly by the Queen herself kneeling. These various per-
sons — the yeomen, the sub-almoner, and the Queen — after
washing each foot, marked it with the sign of the Cross
above the toes, and kissed it. Clothes, victuals, aDd money
were then distributed. James II. was the last English
King who carried out this ceremony in its entirety.
William III., as a sound Protestant, preferred to do this
sort of thing by deputy, and left the washing to his almoner,
and thus the pious custom in its old form died out. On
Maundy Thursday, 1731, George II. was forty-eight years
old, and forty-eight poor men, and a like number of poor
women, had food distributed to them in the Banqueting
House, Whitehall. The donation was curious enough as
regards the variety of eatables. There were boiled beef,
shoulders of mutton, and small bowls of ale. This was
called dinner. After that, large wooden platters of fish and
loaves ; one old large ling, and one large dried cod; twelve red
herrings and twelve white herrings, and four half-quartern
loaves. Each person had one platter of this provision — not
a very bountiful supply when it had to be divided among
ninety-six poor people — but the first two Georges were not
remarkable for their generosity. The poor folk fared better
when the distribution of clothes and money took place.
They received shoes, stockings, and leather bags, with
penny, twopenny, and fourpenny pieces of silver, and shil-
lings. It is said that each had altogether about £4 in
value. In this reign the Lord High Almoner officiated at
HOLY DAYS AND SEASONS. 237
the feet-washing in place of the King. The washing cere-
mony has long been given up, and since the beginning of
the present reign additional money has been bestowed in
place of provisions.
At Exeter, on Maundy Thursday, as a friend who was
formerly a choir boy at the Cathedral tells me, the vergers
used to take into the close " maunds '' or baskets filled with
coppers. The hundreds of children who collected together
on the occasion formed themselves into some sort of order,
and money was given into the hands of those in front,
and the rest was scattered loosely among those behind to be
scrambled for.
We now come to Good Friday. I am told that at Tenby
in Pembrokeshire, so late as the end of the last century the
old people were in the habit of walking barefooted to
church on that day. This custom could be traced back to
very ancient times.
It was also usual in that neighbourhood for young per-
sons to meet together in Holy Week, and to " make Christ's
bed." This was done by gathering a quantity of long reed
leaves from the river, and weaving them into the shape of
a man. They then laid the figure on a wooden cross, and
placed it in a retired part of a field or garden, where they
left it.
Some years ago I met with the following paragraph in
the City Press : — ■
" On Good Friday morning, at the Church of All Hal
lows, Lombard Street, according to a custom which has
been observed for the last 287 years, sixty of the younger
boys from Christ's Hospital attended the service, after
which, in accordance with the will of Peter Symonds, made
in 1503, they each received at the hands of the church-
warden, Mr. Shayer, a new penny and a packet of raisins.
The same will also directs that the clerk and sexton shall
238 CHURCH FOLKLORE.
receive sixpence each, the Rector of Chadwell, Essex, twenty
shillings, and the poor of the parish and ward, and the
Sunday school children, sixpence each. There was a large
attendance at the service.
" A very ancient custom was again observed at St. Bar-
tholomew the Great, Smithfield. At the conclusion of the
service an old tomb in the churchyard was visited, a pro-
cession being formed, when the Eev. J. Morgan laid twenty-
one sixpences on the tomb, which were picked up by
twenty-one elderly females of the parish. It is stated that
an old lady left this benefaction, and that she lies buried in
the churchyard, but the exact spot cannot be pointed out."
A writer in the Daily Telegraph of March 28, 1891,
supplies a little additional information as regards All
Hallows, which is useful as illustrating the action now so
commonly taken by the " Charity Commissioners." He
says : — " Yesterday (Good Friday), owing to the action of
the Charity Commissioners, the bequest was fulfilled for
the last time. A full congregation attended the morning
service, and the front pews were occupied by sixty of the
youngest Bluecoat boys. At the close of the service the
boys filed to the chancel in front of the Communion rails,
and Canon Bawlinson, the rector, handed to each a new
penny, while the churchwardens added a paper of ' good
raisons,' with a bun, an orange, and an Easter card. Peter
Symonds devised the sum of 3s. 4d. to provide for the
' raisons,' and he ordered a donation of 30s. to Christ's
Hospital to be set aside from the annuity of £3 2s. 8d.
payable to the churchwardens, who are entitled to 2s. for
their ' paines.' All Hallows, Lombard Street, has lost
£3,600 of its former revenue under the Charity Commis-
sioners' scheme, and yesterday an offertory had to be taken
to meet the current expenses of the church."
The Rector of Stoke Edith in Herefordshire, writing in
1873, stated that he was told by an old woman in Ledbury,
HOLY DAYS AND SEASONS. 239
that an aunt of hers who lived at Bosbury, about four
miles off, and who died in 1872, used always on Good
Friday to put on a white apron with a large bow behind,
and never had anything to eat until she came back from
church. He further adds that the late Archdeacon Evans
told him that in his college days at Cambridge no meat
could be had from the kitchen at Trinity until the after-
noon — three o'clock, he believed.
In the days of our grandfathers, or great grandfathers, I
have reason to believe that the religious observance of the
Good Friday fast was not so uncommon as people are apt to
suppose. Take the following as a typical instance: — A
lady tells me that her grandfather, who was Rector of St.
Asaph, Caerwys, when he married, went to live in the
house which his wife's family had occupied for more than
a hundred years. There, on Good Friday, the dinner con-
sisted of pikelets or pancakes, made of flour, yeast, milk,
and water, but no eggs. This was cooked on a " bake-
stone." No meat was provided, but potatoes formed part
of the meal.
One is naturally glad to hear of labouring people attend-
ing to a Church rule of the kind we are considering. I
have an account of an old woman living in a parish near
Wolverhampton, who was not in other respects very parti-
cular about her religious duties. On one Maundy Thurs-
day she had some meat given to her, but she said that she
should keep it till the Saturday, as she had never eaten
meat on Good Friday. It is believed that this feeling is
very general in the parish where the old woman lived.
To turn to another way in which Good Friday was
marked in some other places. Years ago the clergy of the
ancient Collegiate Church of St. Mary, Youghal, County
Cork, always officiated in black gown and hood on Good
Friday. Possibly the practice may still be continued. 1
1 Notes and Queries, May 11, 1872.
240 CHURCH FOLKLORE.
Even the sacredness and solemn character of this day has
not preserved it from what strict Church people would
regard as desecration. I find that in Sussex, people who
do not play at marbles at any other time do so on Good.
Friday. On that day they play as much as possible. They
will play in the road at the church gates till the moment
before service, and begin again as soon as the service is
over. The marble season in Sussex is between Ash Wed-
nesday and Good Friday. 1 The same custom, I understand,
prevails in some parts of Essex, and the day is called
" Marble Day."
A very odd custom prevailed at Glentham in Lincoln-
shire until the early part of the present century. There
is in the church there a tomb with a figure, popularly
called " Molly Grime." This figure was regularly washed
every Good Friday by seven aged maidens of Glentham,.
with water brought from Newell Well ; each receiving a
shilling for her trouble. This was in consequence of an,
old bequest connected with some property in that district.
About 1832 the property was sold without any reference to>
the custom which had been attached to it, and the Molly
Grime washing was discontinued.
It will be remembered that among the Palm Sunday
customs I quoted from the churchwardens' accounts in the
parish of St. Julian, Shrewsbury. In the same document
there is a most astonishing item to the effect that on Easter
Day, 1622, there was a celebration of the Holy Communion
at " Morninge Prayer," and another at the " hie service,"
when thirteen quarts of muscadine were consumed ! Well
instructed church folk, who are accustomed to take only a
few drops from the chalice, may perhaps be aware that in
many country places rustic communicants, who have not
been taught better, are in the habit of taking enouo-h of
the consecrated Wine to half fill a small wine glass • but
1 Notes and Queries, July 5, 1879.
HOLY DAYS AND SEASONS. 241
the idea of more than three gallons of the consecrated
Species being consumed in one day by the communicants of
a parish which even now does not reckon more than two
thousand inhabitants, reveals a dreadful state of things.
It seems only natural that at such a time of festivity as
Easter the customs attaching to the season took a secular
rather than a religious form. Indeed, I know of none
which were distinctively religious unless the following may
be so regarded.
From the Rev. J. Burleigh Colvill I understand that
when he was in charge of the parish of Hewelsfield in the
Forest of Dean, the churchwardens were wont to present
to him, as he entered the church, two bouquets of flowers.
One of these was to be placed on the altar, and the other
was to be worn by the officiant.
I believe that in days long gone by it was the custom in
many places to have a celebration of the Holy Communion
very early on Easter morning. Thus at Usk in Mon-
mouthshire, I understand that such a service at six o'clock
on the morning of that day is quite a time-honoured
custom.
One way in which our forefathers were accustomed to
distinguish Easter Day as a special festival was by donning
new clothes on that morning as a regular thing. A gentle-
man has told me that an ancestor of his who lived at the
beginning of the last century always put on all her jewels
on Easter Day. It is not likely that this was a mere
private fancy of a religious woman. The probability is
that she was simply following in the matter the general
custom of ladies of her own rank at that date.
A clergyman has told me that when he was at Hawk-
church in Dorsetshire it was the custom for the parish
clerk to make and take round on Easter Day to the houses
of the principal inhabitants cakes made of flour, butter, and
currants, and powdered with sugar. It need scarcely be
242 CHURCH FOLKLORE.
said these were sold at remunerative rates, and it was con-
sidered quite a wrong thing for any "respectable " family
to be without them on Easter Day. A lady tells me that
this was also the custom in the parish of St. Mary Magda-
lene, Taunton.
Hasted, in his " History of Kent " (1790), states that in
the parish of Biddenden there is an endowment of old but
unknown date for making a distribution of cakes amongst
the poor every Easter Day in the afternoon. The source of
the benefaction consists in twenty acres of land in five
parcels commonly called " Bread and Cheese Land." Prac-
tically, in Mr. Hasted's time, six hundred cakes were thus
disposed of, being given to persons who attended service,
while two hundred and seventy loaves of three and a half
pounds weight each, with a pound and a half of cheese,
were given in addition to such as were parishioners.
In the earlier part of the present century a curious cus-
tom prevailed in Birmingham. On Easter Monday any
woman caught in the streets unprotected was liable to be
lifted, or " heaved," as it was called, by any party of men
whom she met, and she was not allowed to go free without
paying a forfeit. The plan was for two of the men to clasp
each other's wrists, and to make the victim sit upon their
joined arms. They then lifted her up and down two or
three times, and carried her a little way down the street.
On Easter Tuesday the women were wont to retaliate upon
the men in a similar fashion. Possibly this usage may
originally have had some symbolical reference to the Resur-
rection. The popular idea was that the " heaving " was a
pretended test as to how Lent had been observed by
the patient. This custom used to prevail in Lancashire,
Cheshire, and Staffordshire, as well as in Warwickshire. I
have seen it stated that in Durham the men on Easter
Monday used to claim the right to take off the women's
shoes, and that on Easter Tuesday the women retaliated.
HOLY DAYS AND SEASONS. 243
The custom of giving away eggs, hard-boiled and fane -
fully coloured, at Easter, is too well known to need more
than a passing notice. However, probably some of those
who give or receive them think little of the religious signi-
fication of the custom, and how remarkable a type of the
Resurrection is a chick coming from an"egg.
May is the month wherein nature breaks out into re-
newed beauty, and has, almost from time immemorial, been
connected with joviality and lightness of heart. The
ancient festival of the goddess Flora was held on or about
the first of May, and it has been supposed that the prettj'
rustic custom of choosing a "Queen of the May'' originated
from the heathen commemoration. In olden times when
Rome, as a Christian Church, was in the ascendant, May
was the month kept in honour of the Blessed Virgin.
When I was living at Teignmouth in South Devon a good
many years ago, it was usual for the children to go about
f rom house to house on May-day exhibiting a doll gaily
dressed, and surrounded with flowers. The doll was carried
in a box or a basket. These, I have no doubt, was origin-
ally intended to represent the Virgin Mary ; they now go
by the somewhat debased name of " May Babies."
This custom is not peculiar to Devonshire. I find that
in Essex these dolls are or were carried about on May-day,
and, if I mistake not, also at Hitchin in Hertfordshire, and
probably at many other places. Thus the late Colonel
Bagnall, when churchwarden at West Bromwich, told me
that in that town the children, on May-day, bring round
garlands, decorated sticks and dolls in a bower adorned
with flowers.
It may not be generally known that the church of St.
Andrew Undershaft, in the city of London, received its
name from the exceptionally lofty May-pole which was
annually set up in the street in front of the church, and to
which Chaucer refers when he speaks of " the great shaft
244 CHURCH FOLKLORE.
of Cornhill." It was higher than the church steeple, and
was destroyed by the Puritans as tending to minister to
the cheerfulness and amusement of the parishioners and
the people generally. This destruction necessarily brings
to one's mind the caustic sarcasm of Lord Macaulay, who
says that the Puritans set their faces against bear-baiting,
not because it gave pain to the bear, but because it gave
pleasure to the spectators.
Rogation Tide comes next in order. It need scarcely be
said that the Rogation Days are the Monday, Tuesday, and
Wednesday before Ascension Day, or Holy Thursday.
The custom of having religious processions and other ob-
servances on these days is a very ancient one, and can be
traced back to the middle of the fifth century. In the
northern counties they are called "Gangen Days," from
the Anglo-Saxon word " Gangen " to go. The observance
of these days was twofold in its character, and was partly
religious and partly secular. Regarded religiously, the
perambulation of the parish by the clergy, choir, and
people was for the purpose of invoking God's blessing
upon the rising crops, during which procession Psalm ciii.
was sung, and other devotions were introduced. In the
interests of justice this perambulation was utilised for the
purpose of keeping up in the minds of the parishioners
the exact limits of the parish boundaries. To this end
such sentences as " Cursed is he that translate th the
bounds of his neighbour " formed part of the service.
The true purpose of the Rogation Tide procession is well
expressed by George Herbert in his " Country Parson,"
published in 1652, thus : —
" The country parson is a lover of old customs if they be
good and harmless. Particularly he loves procession, and
maintains it, because there are contained therein four
HOLY DAYS AND SEASONS. 245
manifold advantages. (1) A blessing of God for the fruits
of the field ; (2) Justice in the preservation of bounds ;
(3) Charitie in loving, walking, and neighbourly accom-
panying one another, with reconciling of differences at that
time, if there be any ; (4) Mercy in relieving the poor by a
liberal distribution or largess, which at that time is or
ought to be used. Therefore he exacts of all to be present
at the perambulation, and those that withdraw and sever
themselves from it he mislikes and reproves as uncharitable
and unneighbourly, and if they will not reform, presents
them."
An account of a partially religious Rogation procession
in the early part of this century can scarcely fail to be
interesting. The Vicar of Burpham, near Arundel, has
been good enough to send me the following extract from
his parish books. The intermingling of Bible reading and
drinking is odd enough. It is evident that there was a
feeling that a Rogation Tide procession ought to have some
sort of religious element connected with it, but neither
parson nor people knew what it ought to be. Here is the
recorded account : —
" An exact account of the procession or bound-treading
of the parish of Burpham as the bounds were set out and
perambulated on the 29th of March, 1810, by the under-
signed.
" On Tuesday, in Rogation Week, the minister, church-
wardens, and other inhabitants of the said parish 0"
Burpham, met in the church, and from thence went to the
chalk pit in Burpham Slipe, and over the river round
Burpham brooks, and then crossed the river again at
Peppering Slipe, and so to the malthouse, where upon a
bank near the said malthouse they made a cross and a
bound, and the minister read the Epistle and Gospel, and
246 CHURCH FOLKLORE.
Great Peppering brought two gallons of ale and a cake and
a cheese, and Little Peppering one gallon of ale and a
cake and a cheese.
"From thence they went round Peppering brooks and
meads to a sluice upon the boundary ditch, and so along to
the Whapple gate which goes into Stoke fields, and then
under the hedge to the corner of it, and there they make a
cross and a bound, and so round the Downs at the end of a
ditch upon the road, and there they make a cross and a
bound, and then go round the greater part of Coome Farm
till they come to a lane between Lee farm-house and Coome
House, and there they make a cross and a bound, and the
minister reads again, and Coome Farm brings about eight
or ten gallons of ale, and a two-gallon loaf of bread, and a
cheese, and a cake of two gallons. After this they go
along the lane and ascend the hill, and at the place where
Coome Downs join Wepham Downs, they make a cross and
a bound, and from thence they walk along the road to the
corner of Hey ward's coppice, where they make a cross and
a bound under the hedge, and after this they make their
perambulation between Burpham and Augmering parishes
to Wepham Ball, and then they go round the Ball to an
old ash tree which stands in Mr. Cheal's coppice, which
they strip on the east side, and from this tree they go
directly south to the Lady's coppice, and then by the
maple stem in the hedge they throw up a heap of stones,
and from this maple stem they go along the ditch between
Lady's coppice and Well coppice to the corner of Blake-
hurst field, where they make a cross and a bound, and
from thence they surround all the woods, and the Burpham
four acres to the corner of Candle-croft, where in the lane
near the gate they make a cross and a bound, and the
minister reads again, and to this place, John Knowles,
Wepham Farm, sends a gallon loaf, and a gallon cake, and
cheese, and six gallons of ale. From this place they
HOLY DAYS AND SEASONS. 247
descend Warning-Camp Downs, and encompass the Vinell
to a croft called , and from thence round the Hoe
and Wepham meads and brooks, and about the middle of
the hill to the river, and by the river- side to the chalk pit,
where they set out, and from thence to the walnut tree in
Burpham Street, where all the freeholders and copyholders
bring a gallon of ale, and a cake, and cheese, unless it be
the farm of John Knowles, who paid his custom at Candle-
croft, and so ends the procession.
" I certify that I went the bounds with the persons
undersigned on the day and year above mentioned.
" Witness my hand.
" Wm. W. Holland, Vicar of Burpham.
Dennet Harvee, 1 ^,, , ,
John Puckeridge, j Churchwardens.
The mark of X Richard Rafford — Parish Clerk.
Francis Stedman.
Thomas Port.
Joseph Page,
Peter Page,
Wm. West,
John Puckeridge, Jun,
Wm. Puckeridge,
James Puckeridge,
Witnesses of the due observance of the above customs.
Dennett Hersea. ) rt\. ^ ^ »
t 1, r> i -i < Churchwardens.
John Puckeridge. j
It is rather noticeable in looking down this list of signa-
tories, that the parish clerk was the only one who was
unable to write his name.
Of course we know not how many persons in addition
to the above-named took part in the procession, but pro-
bably not very many, for the parish is quite a small one,
and in 1841, the earliest record that I have, the population
was only 280, and, at least, two-thirds of these would, I
presume, be women and children. Supposing that we
Boys.
248 CHURCH FOLKLORE.
estimate the freeholders and copyholders at Burpham
Street as four, and those at Wepham Cross as two only, we
arrive at this interesting total as regards the refreshment
provided — twenty-three gallons of ale, several gallons of
bread and cake, and an unknown quantity of cheese — a
fairly liberal allowance !
By the injunctions of Elizabeth, it was required that in
order to retain the perambulation of the circuits of
parishes, the people should, once in the year, at the time
accustomed, with the curate and substantial men of the
parish, walk about the parishes as they were accustomed,
and at their return to the church make their common
prayers. And the curate in these perambulations was at
certain convenient places to admonish the people to give
thanks to God as they beheld His benefits, and for the
increase and abundance of the fruits upon the face of the
earth. The 103rd and 104th Psalms were appointed to be
said on these occasions, and the minister was to inculcate
such sentences as these : — " Cursed is he that translateth
the bounds or doles of his neighbour." A sermon or
homily of thanksgiving was to follow, and divine service
said in church.
Eating and drinking always seems to have been an im-
portant item in connection with Rogation Tide processions.
In some parishes we find that certain moneys were be-
queathed by former residents towards the refreshment of
those who took part in them. Thus in the parish of
Edgcott in Buckinghamshire there is about an acre of
land, let at £3 a year, called " Gang Monsay Land," which
was left to the parish officers to provide cakes and beer for
those who took part in the annual perambulation of the
parish. At Clifton Reynes, in the same county, a bequest
of land for a similar purpose directs that one small loaf, a
piece of cheese, and a pint of ale, should be given to every
married person, and half a pint of ale to every unmarried
HOLY DAYS AND SEASONS. 249
person, resident in Clifton, when they walked the parish
boundaries in Rogation Week. A certain estate at Har-
borne Crawley in Bedfordshire has to pay £4 on Rogation
Day once in seven years, to defray the expense of peram-
bulating and keeping up the boundaries of the parish. 1 .
It is much to be wished that the Rogation processions
conducted on the old religious model were reintroduced, at.
least in our country parishes. This might easily be
brought about if our Primate, as Archbishop Seeker did in
1750, would urge his clergy to revert to the old practice
such as was in use in Queen Elizabeth's reign. It may be
well to state that, at Wolverhampton, until about 1765, the
sacrist, resident prebendaries, and members of the choir
assembled at morning prayer on Monday and Tuesday in
Rogation Week, with charity children bearing long poles-
clothed with all sorts of flowers then in season, which were
afterwards carried through the streets with much so-
lemnity ; the clergy, singing men and boys, in their church
vestments, closing the procession and chanting the " Bene-
dicite." The boundaries of the parish were marked in
many places by "gospel trees." These were the spots
where the Gospel was read during the function.
It is to be feared that, in the past, Ascension Day, or
" Holy Thursday," has been greatly neglected, but there
are not wanting evidences that a desire existed for a more
reverent commemoration of the great event which forms
an article in our Creed. Thus the rector has told me that
the will of Sylvanus Lysons (who left certain lands in
trust for charitable purposes) provides that there shall be
service in Hemsted Church, Gloucestershire, on Ascension
Day, with a celebration of Holy Communion. A guinea to
the officiating clergyman, with a fee to the clerk, is paid
from the funds of the " Lys.jn's charity."
1 "Book of Days," I. 583.
250 CHURCH FOLKLORE.
For some reason or another, the element of water seems
to be mixed up with Ascension Day local customs. Thus
" Cuthbert Bede " writes : — " A Warwickshire cook of a
relative of mine was seen last Ascension Day, May 1,
standing out of doors, basin in hand, to catch the rain that
was falling. In explanation she said that Holy Thursday
water was holy water, and came straight from Heaven.
The reason why she preserved it was that it was good for
weak or sore eyes."
Witness, again, a custom which was usual some years
ago in the town of Cowbridge in Glamorganshire on As-
cension Day. The children formed parties, each being pro-
vided with sugar and a cup. Water was then taken from
one of the wells in the neighbourhood, the " Bowman's "
Well being an especial favourite, and the sugar put into it.
This water was then drunk. The day was usually desig-
nated " Sugar and Water Day." I believe that this custom
■is observed in other places, but I have no idea what its
meaning can be.
The ancient custom of well-dressing, as at Tissington,
Derbyshire, took place on Ascension Day. The ceremony
is full of interest, and I purpose giving an account of it in
due course.
I cannot close these notices about Ascension Day customs
without saying that Mr. Mackenzie Walcot, in his Sacred
Archaeology, states that at St. Magnus, in the city of
London, the clergy on this day are presented with ribbons,
silks, and stay-laces. If it is difficult to understand what
connection there can be between Water and Holy Thurs-
day, it is still more puzzling to discover what these above-
named articles can have to do with the festival.
We come to Whitsun Tide, the characteristic observance
of which in former times consisted in the holding of
" Church Ales," which has been already described in these
HOLY DAYS AND SEASONS. 251
papers. There are, however, one or two local customs
which must be noticed.
From an early date the householders of St. Briavels, near
Coleford, Gloucestershire, have had the privilege of cutting
down the underwood and of pasturing cattle and sheep on
a tract of land of about 1,200 acres, called " Halknall," or
some such name. It is said that a penny a year was for-
merly paid to the churchwardens — I presume from those
who used the land — and that this money was expended in
the purchase of bread and cheese to be distributed in the
church on Whitsun Day. This payment has long fallen
into disuse, and the distribution of bread and cheese, no doubt,
originally given to the poorer worshippers, degenerated to a
mere scramble, and the church was sadly desecrated. In
modern times, as I am informed, the stalest bread and the
hardest " skim cheese " was bought and cut into small
squares. Of course I am now describing what took place
a great many years ago, though I call them, comparatively
speaking, modern times. These portions of bread and
-cheese were brought into the church in baskets, and imme-
diately after the afternoon service were thrown all over
the church. Numbers of rough people came from the
Forest of Dean for the frolic, and the evening was com-
monly passed in drinking and riot. Some twenty or more
years ago the practice of throwing the bread and cheese
about the church was discontinued, and they were thrown
down from the church tower, and scrambled for in the
■churchyard. Of late years, says a friend, writing in 1880,
the distribution took place outside the churchyard gates,
in the road. For the last few years the custom has been
dying out, and it ceased in 1879. It is to be hoped that it
never will be revived, as its original signification has been
-entirely lost.
Several communications have been addressed to me,
drawino- attention to the fact that it has been an imme-
252 CHURCH FOLKLORE.
raorial custom in some parishes to decorate the church with
houghs or sprigs of birch on Whitsun Day. What connec-
tion "The Lady of the Woods,'' as Coleridge styles the
graceful birch-tree, can have to do with Whitsun Tide, will
probably be a puzzle to many ; but I think that a reason
can be found without looking very far. All those who
are versed in what may be called " Tree Lore," must be
aware that one of the peculiarities of the birch is its more
than ordinary power of resisting decay. This attribute of
durability is in an especial degree possessed by its bark.
This has been proved by the fact that portions of birch
bark have been found uninjured at considerable depths in
peat bogs, where it must have lain for centuries. The
symbolism is obvious, but I do not remember having ever
seen it noticed.
I have but few customs to note as connected with special
days during the Trinity season ; the following, however,
may fitly be mentioned.
In some districts in the West Riding of Yorkshire the
Sunday following June 28 is called " Thump Sunday." It
is usual on that day for people to visit their friends, and to
eat spiced cake and cheese. 1
" Crack Nut '' seems an odd name to give to a Sunday,
but in a modern handbook of Kingston on Thames it is
stated that until a recent period the congregation at the
parish church used to crack nuts during service time on
the Sunday next before the eve of Michaelmas Day. The
day was known as " Crack Nut Sunday," and the custom
was practised alike by young and old.
Forty years ago it was still the custom in the parishes of
Cuckfield and Hurstpierpoint in Sussex to observe St.
Crispin's Day (October 25), and it was kept with much
rejoicing. The boys went round asking for money in th&
name of St. Crispin, bonfires were lighted, and the day
1 Notes and Queries, July 1, 1876.
HOLY DAYS AND SEASONS. 253
passed off very much in the same way as the fifth of
November does amongst ourselves.
Miss C. M. Yonge, writing from Otter bourne, Winchester,
has told me that in that part of Hampshire blacksmiths
explode gunpowder on their anvils on St. Clement's Day
(November 23). She has heard the reports when at Otter-
bourne, and more recently at Hursley, but the custom is
pretty nearly given up.
At Eipon Minster, on or about St. Clement's Day, the
choristers used to go round the church offering a rosy-
cheeked apple, with a sprig of box stuck into it, to every
person present, for which a small gratuity was expected,
and, of course, generally given.
As recently as forty years ago the village children in
Shropshire were accustomed on All Souls' Day (November
2) to go round to all their neighbours, "souling," as they
termed it, collecting small contributions, and singing a
doggerel song ; of which the first stanza will be enough to
quote : —
" Soul, soul, for a soul cake ;
Pray, good mistress, for a soul cake,
One for Peter, two for Paul,
Three for them that made us all."
The soul cake referred to in the verses was a sort of bun
which people were in the habit of making to give to one
another on All Souls' Day.
In the neighbourhood of Sandback in Cheshire, "souling "
was formerly carried on with great zeal and energy on
November 2. It was, I understand, commonly believed
there that it was a remnant of the ancient custom for col-
lecting money for masses for the dead.
CHAPTER XII.
CHURCH MUSIC.
We will now pass on to consider a few customs connected
with church music in past times. Doubtless a good deal
could be unearthed respecting it, but only a little, compara-
tively speaking, have I come across in the course of my
reading.
It is probable that church music was at its lowest ebb in
the days of the early Georges. From the time of the
Commonwealth it had been going down. The cheerfulness
which music was calculated to give to the services of the
church would naturally cause it to be viewed with dis-
favour by the Puritans, and many church organs were
destroyed while they were in the ascendant, but after the
Restoration they were gradually re-introduced, notwith-
standing a great deal of popular prejudice which existed
against them.
It was in cathedrals, of course, that the musical part of
divine service was most efficiently rendered, but even in
them things were often far from satisfactory. What could
be expected of places like Carlisle which were presided
over by Puritan bishops, like Barnabas Potter (1629-1642),
who is reported to have said that an organ would blow
him out of church. The instruments employed seem to
have been very various. Mr. Walcot tells us that viols
were used at Exeter, musical instruments at Lincoln in
1631, and the lyre and harp at Hereford. Cornets and
254
CHURCH MUSIC. 255,
sackbuts were played at Worcester at the reception of
Elizabeth, August 13, 1575, and in 1667 cornets were
used at Westminster. 1 Occasionally we hear even in bad
times of some effort having been made to render the
service of God more dignified than was common in those
days. Thus at the beginning of the eighteenth century
the Te Deum was sung in Durham Cathedral to instru-
mental music, and on February 1, 1733, at the service on
behalf of the Corporation of the Sons of the Clergy at
St. Paul's, Handel's Te Deum, Jubilate, and two anthems*
were performed by a much greater number of voices than
usual, about fifty gentlemen performing gratis. 2 Mr.
Walcot quotes from the Nonne's Priestes Tale of Chaucer a
couple of lines which he considers proves that even in the
poet's day, and he died in 1400, the organ was only used at
festival times : —
" His vois was merrier than the mery orgon
On massie days that in the churches gon."
In my own youthful days it was a very common thing to-
have in village churches a band of rustics with fiddles and
flutes stationed in the west gallery to accompany the sing-
ing of Tate and Brady's Metrical Psalms. This was in the
Midlands, where, if I mistake not, things ecclesiastical
were often at a very low ebb. The men played, of course,
with far more vigour than taste; a noise rather than melody
seemed to be the thing aimed at. A clergyman has told
me that when he went to Castle Morton, near Tewkesbury,,
in 1868, the west gallery was occupied by a bass viol and
three violins. I merely mention this to show that what I
have heard called a " Nebuchadnezzar band" in church was
continued almost until our own time, and there are pro-
1 " Custom of Cathedrals,'' p. 108.
• Gentlemen's Magazine, February, 1733.
256 CHURCH FOLKLORE.
bably such things still in use. Barrel organs with, of
course, an exceedingly limited selection of tunes, were,
within living memory, by no means uncommon. A lady
friend tells me that one of these organs was in use in the
«hurch of Great Bircham, a village in Norfolk, in 1869, and
for some years afterwards. The handle, she says, was
always turned very rapidly, but the music produced was
slower than legato, and the singing was drawling to a
ludicrous degree. The congregation on rising to sing faced
the organ, which stood in the north aisle.
But to proceed. Mr. Abbey seems to think that the
ignorance of parish clerks had much to do with the de-
based condition into which church music had fallen, for in
the last century they seem to have had the chief direction
■of it, even to choosing the metrical psalms which should
be sung. He quotes from John Wesley's works, and relates
how he mentioned an amusing reminiscence of his boyhood.
" One Sunday, immediately after sermon, my father's clerk
said, in an audible voice, ' Let us sing to the praise, etc., a
hymn of my own composing : —
" ' King William is come home, come home,
King William home is come,
-' Therefore let us together sing
The hymn that's called Te Bum.'" 1
Let us try to imagine the condition in which the church
must have been when such a thing as this could be possible.
It must, however, be borne in mind that it did not go on
without protest. Thus an article from the Weekly Mis-
cellany, reprinted in the Gentlemen's Magazine lor
February, 1741, treats of " The Abuse of Psalmody in
Churches." It is complained that in most parishes a set of
men called the " singers " manage the psalm singing and
1 " Works," x., 445.
CHURCH MUSIC. 257
anthems as they like ; choose the portions to be sung
themselves, in spite of the parson, and often make absurd
selections, and use tunes in which by reason of their new-
ness and variety the congregation could not take part. It
is regretted that the custom of repeating the psalm line by
line is given up, although it is condemned by Bishop Wren
as " indecent and uncouth," and by Dr. Watts as an " un-
happy way of singing."
Things must, indeed, have been bad when such a bar-
barous practice as that just mentioned could be regarded
by any man of ordinary intellect as being preferable to any
existing practice.
It would seem that this habit of reading the metrical
psalms line by line was introduced by the Puritans, from
whom we have inherited other church abominations. Take
the following passage from the Westminster Directory : —
" In singing of psalms .... for the present, where many
of the congregation cannot read, it is convenient that the
minister, or some other fit person appointed by him and
the other ruling officers, doe reade the psalme, line by line,
before the singing thereof."
Miss C. M. Yonge has given me a curious experience of
her own, which would seem to point to a more decent and
reverend method of conducting Divine service than might
have been expected. She said that in her early days
the people at a church which she attended " made the
responses in a full harmonious cadence as if it were the
tradition of a chant." This was in a church very old and
dilapidated, with a service only once on a Sunday, and no
resident clergyman.
The playing of what were called " Voluntaries," except
before and after service, is a custom which, I fancy, has
almost died out. Yet I remember that when I was a boy,
and used to go to St. Philip's Church, Birmingham, a
"Voluntary" was always played after the reading of the
258 CHURCH FOLKLORE.
second lesson on a Sunday. The clergy, the clerk, and all
the congregation sat whilst it was going on. I believe that
in those days this was no uncommon practice. In some
places it was customary for a " Voluntary " to be played
after the Psalms, and also before the second lesson.
It would be interesting to know something about the
introduction of surpliced choirs in parish churches, but I
regret to say that I have very little information about this.
The Vicar of Sherborne, Dorsetshire, writes : — " I perfectly
well remember, when a boy, seeing the choir boys wear sur-
plices in the west gallery of the Abbey Church, here.
After a time these boys were replaced by girls of a ' Blue
School,' as it was called, who were disrespectfully described
as ' screaming maidens.' My predecessor, the Rev. E.
Harston, when the church was restored, instituted a regular
choir, and finding the old surplices, after a time obtained
surplices for the men and boys, and since then we have had
a regular surpliced choir who sit in the choir stalls." Some
have supposed that at Milbourne Port, near Sherborne, the
choir, surpliced, occupied the west gallery, but the incum-
bent tells me the singers there were first put into sur-
plices between thirty and forty years ago by his father,
the rector and squire of the parish, merely because their
conduct in the west gallery, now abolished, was not ex-
emplary.
The Rev. A. T. Fryer tells me that formerly at Exeter
Cathedral the choir boys on their admission were formally
installed. The chorister elect used to sit upstairs in the
organ-loft until after the second lesson. He then came
down the steps, and was met at the bottom by the vergers
with their " pokers," and the head choir boy. A procession
was formed, and at the entrance to the stalls a halt was
made, when the head choir boy recited as follows : — " I,
A. B., do hereby instal you, C. D., as a chorister of this Cathe-
dral Church of St. Peter." The Dean's name was also
CHURCH MUSIC. 259
introduced. For that ceremony there was a fee of about
£1 2s. 6d., which was divided amongst the boys according
to rank, the vergers also receiving their share.
He also has informed me that when he was a choir boy
there, Bishop Philpotts, when present at the mid-day Cele-
bration on Sundays, was accustomed to bless the boys in
this wise : — " At the end of the service we filed out from
the back of the communicants (having been sitting not in
the stalls but on a wooden bench behind the communi-
cants) and passed from the choir to the south aisle. Two
long benches with kneelers had been previously placed
athwart the south aisle between the choir door and the
private entrance to the Palace. As the Bishop passed
through he laid his hands on each boy, and said to him,
' God bless you.' "
A few words about carols. The beautiful words of the
carols written by Dr. Neale and others, and the charming
melodies to which they have been set, have done much to
lead to the disuse of certain old favourites, which probably
will in a few years be forgotten. The rector of Grasmere
has told me that the old carol, beginning " A Virgin un-
spotted," was traditional in that parish until some thirty
years ago, when for some reason it ceased to be sung.
Latterly it has been revived, to the great joy of the people,
who in the North are warmly attached to old customs.
I remember that shortly after I was ordained — say about
forty years ago — I was fairly puzzled by the first line of
this carol as it was rendered by an ill-taught village boy.
Some children came to my door one Christmas Eve, and I
asked them what carols they knew. The first two men-
tioned were, as their spokesman pronounced the words,
" David and Lazarus," and "The Virgin and Spotty." Of'
course the former of these was easy of interpretation, but
the latter for a few moments puzzled me, as I had never
heard of the carol. Of course I chose " The Virgin and
2 6o CHURCH FOLKLORE.
Spotty," and the words were pronounced by the children
exactly as I have written them.
Amongst the carols which are now rapidly becoming
obsolete is one which was formerly very popular. Twenty
years hence its use will very likely be a thing of the past,
if it is not now almost forgotten. It was called " The
Seven Joys of Mary," and ran as follows : —
" The first great joy that Mary had,
It was the joy of one,
To see her ransomed Jesus Christ
Sucking at her breast bone :
Sucking at her breast bone, Good Lord,
Oh ! blessed may we be,
With Father, Son, and Holy Ghost,
To all eternity.
" The next great joy that Mary had,
It was the joy of two,
To see her ransomed Jesus Christ
Making the lame to go :
Making the lame to go, Good Lord, etc.
" The next great joy that Mary had,
It was the joy of three,
To see her ransomed Jesus Christ
Making the blind to see :
Slaking the blind to see, Good Lord, etc.
" The next great joy that Mary had,
It was the joy of four,
To see her ransomed Jesus Christ
Reading the Bible o'er :
Reading the Bible o'er, Good Lord, etc.
" The next great joy that Mary had,
It was the joy of five,
CHURCH MUSIC. 26 1
To see her ransomed Jesus Christ
Making the dead alive :
Making the dead alive, Good Lord, etc.
" The next great joy that Mary had,
It was the joy of six,
To see her ransomed Jesus Christ
Bearing the Crucifix :
Bearing the Crucifix, Good Lord, etc.
" The next great joy that Mary had,
It was the joy of seven,
To see her ransomed Jesus Christ
Ascending into Heaven :
Ascending into Heaven, Good Lord,
Oh ! blessed may we be,
"With Father, Son, and Holy Ghost,
To all eternity."
A lady has been kind enough to send me a copy of a very
singular old Cornish carol which in its quaint construction
strongly reminds one of the old friend of our childhood,
" The House that Jack Built." It is thrown into the form of
a dialogue between a soprano and a bass vocalist. The
Soprano begins : —
"Soprano. — Come and I will sing you.
Bass. — What will you sing me ?
Soprano. — I will sing you one, O.
Bass. — What is your one, O ?
Soprano. — One of them was all alone,
And ever will remain so.
Come and I will sing you.
Bass. — What will you sing me ?
Soprano. — I will sing you two, O.
Bass. — What is your two, O ?
Soprano. — Two of them were lily white babes,
Dressed all in green, O.
One of them was all alone,
And ever will remain so.
Come and I will sing you.
262 CHURCH FOLKLORE
Bass. — What will you sing me ?
Soprano. — I will sing you three, O.
Bass. — What is your three, O ?
Soprano. — Three of them were strangers ;
Two of them were lily white babes,
Dressed all in green, O.
One of them was all alone,
And ever will remain so.
Come and I will sing you.''
And so on until we come to the last stanza, which runs :
"Soprano. — Twelve were the twelve Apostles ;
Eleven are they that have gone to Heaven ;
Ten are the ten Commandments ;
Nine the moon shines bright and clear ;
Eight was the great Archangel ;
Seven were the seven stars in the sky ;
Six were the Cherubim waiters ;
Five were the ferry men in the boat ;
Four were the Gospel preachers ;
Three of them were strangers ;
Two of them were lily white babes,
Dressed all in green, O ;
One of them was all alone,
And ever shall remain so."
Let us now see how they arranged their carol singing in
the Isle of Man in days gone by. On Christmas Eve, or " Oiel
Verry" (Mary's Eve) as it is called in the Manx, a number
of persons used to assemble in each parish church, and pro-
ceed to chant carols or "Carvals." There was no unison
or concert about the chanting, but a single person would stand
up with a lighted candle in his or her hand, and chant in a
dismal monotone verse after verse of some old Manx "Carval,"
until the candle was burnt out. Then another person would
start up, and go through a similar performance. No fresh
CHURCH MUSIC. 263
candle might be lighted after the clock had chimed mid-
night. An elaborate service of song with trained choirs,
and all decorous musical and religious accessaries, has now
taken the place of the quaint old Carval singing. 1
1 Notes and Queries, March 6, 1880.
CHAPTER XIII.
RUSH-BEARING AND CHURCH DECORATION.
Most people know that in olden time it was the custom to
strew the floors of grand banqueting halls with rushes in
lieu of the carpets which we use now. Rushes were at
times used ceremonially, as when processions of more than
ordinary importance were in progress, the path over which
they went was thus strewn. Churches were formerly
strewn with rushes on great occasions. It is curious to
notice that this practice was continued in some places to
quite modern times. A clerical correspondent tells me
that, up to the passing of the Municipal Reform Bill, the
Town Clerk of Norwich was accustomed to pay to the
sub-sacrist of the cathedral an annual guinea for strewing
the floor with rushes on the Mayor's Day, from the western
door to the entrance of the choir.
How or when rush-bearing came to be regarded as a
religious ceremony I cannot say, but the fact remains. As
with the majority of old customs which have survived in
more or less completeness to our own day, it is in the
Northern Counties that the ceremonial has been retained.
Many accounts of what ordinarily takes place at these
rush-bearing festivals have been published ; but, notwith-
standing that, it would not be right for me to pass them
by unnoticed. I cannot do better than avail myself of an
account kindly sent to me by Mr. Alexander D. H. Lead-
man, F.S.A., of Boroughbridge, who has described what he
himself witnessed on one occasion.
264
RUSH-BEARING AND CHURCH DECORATION. 265
He says, that at many little villages in Westmoreland
rush-bearing takes place ; but in some of these the religious
element has given way to secular festivities which are
often the reverse of edifying. Yet the interesting cere-
mony is still carried on with sacred service. On or about
the eve of the last Sunday in July, garlands of flowers
intermingled with rushes, and arranged in designs of
various shapes, many of them showing both taste and skill
in their construction, are borne by the village girls walking
in procession. After parading the village they wend their
way to the church, which is decorated for the occasion,
where they are left. Evensong is said, hymns sung, and a
sermon preached appropriate to the occasion. My cor-
respondent describes it as a lovely sight not soon to be
forgotten.
The day upon which the Rush-bearing Festival was kept
varied in different localities. Mr. H. Fishwick, F.S.A., of
Rochdale, writing in 1876, states that, " at Milnrow and
Heywood, it was held on the first Sunday in August; at
Littleborough on the last Sunday in July ; at Rochdale on
the third Sunday in August ; at Whitworth on the second
Sunday in September. In all these places " the rush-carts "
have disappeared, but the festival is still observed as a
holyday on Monday and Tuesday. Mr. Fishwick thinks
that it was not more than a dozen years from the date of
his writing since the last rush-cart, drawn by twenty or
thirty ribbon-bedecked men, and preceded by a brass
band, was drawn through the streets of Rochdale.
Something has already been said about the decoration of
churches, but a few more notes on the subject may appro-
priately be given here.
It is, I think, imagined by many people that, although
it has been the general rule to decorate churches at Christ-
mas, no such attention has until late years been paid to
the other two great festivals. No doubt it was quite the
266 CHURCH FOLKLORE.
exception to dress the churches at Easter and Whitsun
Tide ; but yet the custom was observed in a good many
parishes. Thus Miss C. M. Yonge has told me that she
remembers the church at Otterbourne, Winchester, to have
been decorated with greenery at Easter and Whitsun Tide,
as well as at Christmas, when she was quite a child. This
was the case also at Frome Selwood. 1 At Hawkhurst,
Dorset, as a clerical correspondent informs me, the church
used to be decorated with flowers at Easter and Whitsun
Tide, and with evergreens at Christmas, more than sixty
years ago, and Easter decorations were always put up in
the Parish Church of St. Cuthbert's, Wells, quite at the
beginning of the century. It is curious to notice the dif-
ferent evergreens that were used at the several festivals.
Thus, at Winterslow Church, Wiltshire, holly was formerly
used at Christmas, box at Easter, and yew at Whitsun Tide.
The peculiarity here was that the Whitsun Tide greenery
was kept up till the following Christmas. The yew is not
a cheerful-looking evergreen, and the effect during the long
Trinity season must have been rather depressing. At Harriet-
sham, Kent,yewonly wasemployed at Easter, whilst at Christ-
mas other evergreens were used. It was the rule at Long
Wittenham, Berkshire, for the church to be decorated in
olden time at Christmas with holly and ivy, and at Easter
with yew and box. The church at Sonning, in the
same county, was dressed with yew on Easter Day, and
this was an immemorial custom ; and the same may be
said of Berkeley Church, near Frome, Somersetshire. A
different usage has from time immemorial been followed at
Heybridge, near Maldon, Essex. The church on Whitsun
Day was strewn with rushes, and decorated with boughs
of maple. At Castleton,in Derbyshire, there has been a quaint
custom ; a garland was put on the church-steeple on May
29, and there left until the day came round again. A con-
1 Ecclesiologist, June, 1856.
RUSH-BEARING AND CHURCH DECORATION. 267
tributor to the Ecclesiologist, in 1865, tells us that, on the
occasion of a visit which he paid to the church of Ashton-
under-Hill, a chapelry to Beckford, Worcestershire, he
found suspended inside the tower a bough of misletoe,
which the venerable sexton led him to understand was
an institution of the ringers. What use they had for it
there the old gentleman could not explain, but said that it
remained there all the year, and was supplanted by another
on the following Christmas.
A word or two about the pre-Eeformation mode of
decking churches, as it seems quaint.
In answer to a question from a correspondent in May,
1852, the editor of Notes and Queries, the late Mr. Thorns,
wrote : — " Garlands of rosemary and woodruff were formerly
used to decorate the churches on St. Barnabas Day (June
11), as appears from many old entries in church books;
■e.g. in the churchwardens' accounts of St. Mary-at-Hill in
the city of London, 17 and 19 Edward IV., the following
entry occurs: — ' For Rose garlondis and Woodrove garlondis
on St. Barnabas Daye xj. d.' The reason why woodruff
was used, Gerard tells in his ' Historie of Plants,' p. 965 : —
' It doth very well attemper the aire, and coole and make
fresh the place, to the delight and comfort of such as are
therein.'"
People in general know so little about Welsh church
•customs tbat the following may be worth placing on
record. In many Welsh churches it is usual for the floral
decorations put up on festivals to remain on the walls till
the next festival occurs. Mr. H. W. King, of Leigh, Essex,
has told me that after visiting the church at Strata
Florida in Cardiganshire, on August 21, 1873, he made
this note: — "The sear and shrivelled leaves of the Easter
-decoration still hung on the walls and around the windows.
This, I am told, is a Welsh custom, and may have a
significance unknown to me."
268 CHURCH FOLKLORE.
A different kind of church decoration from those re-
ferred to above may be interesting. The late Canon
Humble, writing in 1874, said: — "At Hough ton-le- Spring,.
Durham, it was the custom from time immemorial at the
greater festivals to encase the pulpit in rich tapestry. The
tapestry was ancient, and had evidently at one time been
much larger, and been used to hang from the walls during
the greater octaves. I saw the pulpit so adorned in 1849."
CHAPTER XIV.
HOLY WELLS.
We now come to a very interesting portion of church
folklore, for it will be found by those who take the
trouble to inquire, that a great many curious traditions
and usages are connected with springs and wells, many of
which had their origin in ancient times, and with certain
modifications are retained at the present day, more
especially among those who live in the remoter parts of
the kingdom.
It may be well to begin with Cornwall, and I am fortun-
ate in having secured the help of Mr. S. J. Wills, Master
of Wheal Euby Board Schools, Wendron, Helston, Corn-
wall, who has supplied me with most valuable information
concerning the holy wells in his own county. I am
indebted to him for the following account of them. He
writes : —
" The spread of Christianity in Cornwall occasioned the
dedication of many springs, to which miraculous virtues
had been ascribed to patron saints, and over these, in most
instances, small edifices were erected, which were used as
oratories, baptistries, or for other purposes.
" It is highly probable that many of these wells were
originally selected by the Druids, who attributed super-
natural virtue and sanctity to springs of water, and when
the early Christian missionaries came hither from Ireland
in the fourth and succeeding centuries, they found that
the people held them in high repute. Therefore, in order
269
270 CHURCH FOLKLORE.
the more readily to obtain converts, they found it desirable
not to abolish certain customs, but to continue them with a
new meaning. They accordingly built walls round the
springs, and in process of time these were covered in, and
the springs themselves dedicated to some saintly patron.
Polwhele, the historian, recognised this feature, and re-
marks that ' The well had before a spirit, it now has a
guardian saint.'
" The Druids are said by Dr. Borlase to have been able
to impose on the credulity of the ignorant by practising
divination. They pretended to foretell with great certainty
the event of battles by a process of incantation, known
only to themselves, which saw in every bubble of the water,
every ripple of the current, and every wave of the spring,
when put in agitation, some elucidation of the interroga-
tions of vulgar inquirers.
" Even now it is customary to regard these oratories with
a veneration bordering on idolatry, and there are many
sufficiently fanatical to cast pins into the water from super-
stitious motives.
" In St. Colans' Parish is Our Lady of Kant's Well, which,
according to Norden, was visited in his time (1584) by
men, women, and children, who wished to 'foreknowe of
the Ladye of the well by givinge an offering, and casting
a Palme Crosse into the water on Palme Sunday, what for-
tune shall befall them that year.'
"In Gulnal, near Penzance, the site of a holy well is
still pointed out, which was visited, says old Hals, by
credulous people, who came ' to inquire after the life or
death of their absent friends, when being arrived they
demanded the question at the well whether such a person,
by name, be living, in health, sick, or dead. If the party
be living, and in health, the still quiet water of the well-pit,
as soon as the question is demanded, will instantly bubble
or boil up as a pot, clear crystalline water ; if sick, foul
HOLY WELLS. 27 1
and puddle water; if the party be dead, it will neither
bubble, boil up, or alter its colour.'
" Dr. Borlase says that its miraculous waters were con-
sulted concerning goods or cattle lost or stolen.
" The Gothic Well of Menacuddle, near St. Austell, was
resorted to as a wishing well. Visitors who hoped for
good luck through life threw a crooked pin into the water,
presuming that other pins previously thrown in by former
devotees would rise to meet it ere it reached the bottom.
" St. Madron's Well, now in ruins, was much frequented
for similar purposes. It is the most celebrated of the kind
in Cornwall, and concerning the efficacy of its water Bishop
Hall writes : — ' Of this kind was that (no less than miracu-
lous) cure which at St. Maderne's in Cornwall was wrought
upon a poor cripple whereof (besides the attestation of many
hundreds of the neighbours) I took a strict and personal
examination in that last visitation which I ever did or
shall hold. This man, that for sixteen years together was.
fain to walk upon his hands by reason of the close con-
traction of the sinews of his legs, was (upon monitions in
his dream to wash in that well) suddenly so restored to his
limbs that I saw him able both to walk and to get his own
maintenance. I found here was no art nor collusion, the
thing done ; the author invisible.' On the first Sunday in
May the custom of visiting the well is still retained, when,,
at early dawn, many young folk, chiefly girls from
Penzance, walk hastily to the wishing well before sunrise
to ascertain the number of years that will elapse before
they will become blessed with husbands. The ceremony
most observed for this object is to fasten together in the
form of a cross two bits of grass stem or straw, each about
an inch long, with a large pin. Then on approaching the
well, each visitor throws into it a crooked pin, and if lucky,
other pins will be seen to rise from the bottom to meet the
last offering. The custom of bathing children in the well
272 CHURCH FOLKLORE.
for the cure of various ailments used to be observed on the
first three Wednesdays in May. Eed rags were also fastened
to the surrounding bushes as votive offerings."
It is to be noticed that each of the principle holy wells
possessed a distinctive power independent of other attri-
butes. St. Nun's Well, for example, was deemed efficacious
in the case of insanity. The manner of " boussening " as
practised in its waters is thus quaintly described by Carew :
" The water running from St. Nun's Well fell into a square
and inclosed walled plot, which might be filled at what depth
they listed. Upon this was the frantic person set to stand,
his back towards the pool, and from thence with a sudden
blow in the breast tumbled headlong into the pond, when a
strong fellow, provided for the nonce, took him and tossed
him up and down in the water; the patient, by foregoing
his strength, had somewhat forgot his fury. Then was he
conveyed to the church and certain things sung over him ;
upon which, laudingly, if his right wits returned, St. Nun
had the thanks, but if there appeared small amendment, he
was boussed again and again while there remained in him
any hope of life or recovery."
Another well dedicated to St. Nun is situated on the
western side of a beautiful valley, through which runs the
Trelawney river, in the parish of Pelynt. The country
people sometimes call it Piskris Well. Mr. J. H. T. Blight
visited it some years since, and on observing a number of
pins in the basin of the well, he inquired of a man at work
near the spot, who informed him that it was done to get the
good-will of the Piskris, who, it appears, after the tribute
of a pin not only ceased to trouble the faithful, but ren-
dered fortunate the operations of husbandry.
Concerning St. Uny's Well in Sancreed, Dr. Borlase
writes that on paying it a visit he found two women there,
who had come from a neighbouring parish, busily employed
in bathing a child, and they informed him that people who
HOLY WELLS. 273
had a mind to receive any benefit from St. Uny's Well
must come and wash upon the first three Wednesdays in
May.
There is a well near Redruth, at the foot of the Wrin-
dick Hill, called Carn Brie, and the peculiar virtue ascribed
to it is that whoever should be baptised in its waters would
be preserved from being ignominiously hanged.
" In Grade Parish, near the Lizard Point, is a well de-
dicated to a noted hermit-saint called St. Kumon. The
building which incloses it is faithfully preserved, and the
water used for baptism in Grade Church has been procured
from this well from time immemorial."
" St. Neot's Well was celebrated in ancient times, and its
legend is painted in one of the handsome windows of the
church. St. Keyne's Well is another remarkable spring
immortalised by Southey's ballad on an amusing circum-
stance connected with its waters. The local tradition
states that whoever drank first of its waters on entering
the marriage state would become master for life. It was
customary, therefore, immediately on the conclusion of the
ceremony, for both parties to rush to the well, which lies
some distance from the church. On one occasion the
husband determined to be the first to reach the well, so : —
" ' I hastened as soon as the wedding was done,
And left my wife in the porch,
But in faith she had been wiser than me,
For she took a bottle to church.' "
In Wendron, on the farm of Trelill, is an interesting speci-
men of these peculiar springs. The oratory is formed of
granite slabs, and the roof, now shrouded with ivy, is of the
same material. The only aperture to give light is a Gothic
arched doorway inside. The water weeps from a fissure
into a square granite basin about a foot square. From this
s
274 CHURCH FOLKLORE.
it is conveyed through a channel under the floor into a
river which runs down the neighbouring valley. On each
side are stone benches, and over the spring is a niche in
which was formerly placed a statue of the patroness, St.
Mary the Virgin.
Though superstitions and traditions are connected with
these wells, many of the structures are fast falling into de-
cay, and are little more than shapeless ruins.
Probably the most famous amongst the many holy wells
is that in Flintshire, which gives a name to a parliamentary
borough and market town about sixteen miles north-west
of Chester. The well is dedicated to St. Winifred, and has
enjoyed a repute for certain alleged healing properties ever
since the seventh century. There is a wild and utterly im-
possible legend connected with its origin which need not be
related. The well is inclosed in a Gothic building, which
was erected in the reign of Henry VII., and forms a sort, of
crypt under a small chapel close to the parish church.
This building was put up by members of the Stanley
family. The traditionary belief in the miraculous powers
of the water has lasted to a comparatively recent date.
James II. paid a visit to the shrine in 1688, and received
for his pains the shift worn by his great-grandmother at
her execution. Pennant, who wrote his tour in Wales in
1784, found the roof of the vault hung with the crutches
of grateful cripples. He says " the resort of pilgrims to
these fontinalia has considerably decreased. The greatest
number are from Lancashire. In the summer still a few
are to be seen in the water, in deep devotion, up to their
chins for hours, sending up their prayers, or performing a
number of evolutions round the polygonal well, or threading
the arches a prescribed number of times."
In London there are various ancient wells which have re-
tained their supernatural character later than most people
imagine. For example, adjoining St. Brides, otherwise St.
HOLY WELLS. 275
Bridget's, Churchyard, Fleet Street, London, is or was an old
well dedicated to the saint, and commonly known as Bride-
well. There was a palace near it which was given by
Edward VI. to the City of London, as a poorhouse of cor-
rection. From this has sprung the popular name of " Bride-
well," to signify a prison. The last public use of the water
of St. Brides' Well, to which certain special qualities were
attached, drained it so much that the inhabitants of St.
Brides' Parish could not get their usual supply. There was
a sudden demand, Hone tells us, a day or two before July 19,
1821, on which day George IV. was crowned at Westminster.
Several men were engaged in filling thousands of bottles.
Mr. Walker, of the hotel, 10 Bridge Street, Blackfriars, who
was purveyor of water for the Coronation, obtained it by
the only means through which the " sainted fluid " was then
attainable— from the cast-iron pump over St. Brides' Well
in Bride Lane.
Another of the London wells which had a widespread
reputation was that known as St. Chad's. This spring was
in the neighbourhood of what was in former days known as
Battle Bridge, i.e. somewhere up the Gray's Inn Road,
starting from Holborn. This, too, had medicinal qualities t
and was regarded in olden times as miraculous. It was
situated in an inclosure, formerly called " The Garden," and
as Hone tells us, was presided over by " The Lady of the
Well," who appears to have been an female in a black bonnet,
cotton gown, and check apron. St. Chad's Well was, as it
would seem, a sort of subscription water. For a guinea a
year a man might drink as much, or as little, or none at all,
just as he pleased. For this privilege, covering shorter
periods, he was required to pay nine and sixpence quarterly,
four and sixpence monthly, and one and sixpence weekly.
Failing this, he might qualify for a single visit by paying
sixpence, for which a large tumbler of warm water was
handed to him. All this took place at the beginning of th
2j6 CHURCH FOLKLORE.
last century, and Hone, who while giving facts with toler-
able accuracy, was by no means an infatuated believer in
the miraculous, remarks, shrewdly enough, that chemists in
these latter days can produce a draught as effectual as the
virtues of St. Chad's Well at the small price of a half-
penny.
While treating of this particular neighbourhood it is
worth mentioning that the street which is now called
King's Cross Road, and which is, to all intents and purposes,
parallel to Gray's Inn Road on the eastern side, was for-
merly known as Bagnigge's Wells Road. Doubtless there
are some traditions about Bagnigge's Wells, but I never
heard them. If anybody can enlighten me I shall be
grateful.
Holywell Street, by St. Mary's Church in the Strand,
scarcely maintains the character suggested by its name,
and it would require a considerable flush of holy water to
wash away the impurity of the literary productions ex-
hibited in the shop windows in that queer by-street. The
street itself is soon to be a thing of the past, and happily
so. The virtues of the holy well, from which it takes its
name, have, so far, not proved efficacious.
There are some strange ideas as to dropping pins into
some of these holy wells, which have been practised until
quite recent years.
About a couple of hundred years ago a certain Dr.
Knerden wrote about a holy well, once famous, dedicated
to St. Helen, and situated near Brindle in Lancashire, to
which the neighbouring people resorted each year upon St.
Helen's Day (August 18). The Empress Helen was a
native of Great Britain, and was the wife of Constantius,
who distinguished himself during the time of persecution
by protecting the Christians in every way that he could.
The custom of those visiting the well was to throw in pins
as an offering. I am quite unable to account for this.
HOLY WELLS. 277
custom, but it was a very usual one. There is, I believe,
another St. Helen's Well, near Sefton in West Lancashire,
into which pins were formerly thrown by those who re-
sorted to it.
Mr. Charles Hardwick, in his " Traditions, Superstitions,
and Folklore of Lancashire," refers to a contribution to
Notes and Queries by " Seleucus," in which he speaks of a
well in the Welsh peninsula of Gower in Glamorganshire.
It is called the " Cefyn Bryn," or the Holy Well. He says
it is still supposed to be under the special patronage of the
Virgin Mary, and a crooked pin is the offering of every
visitor to its sacred precincts. It is believed that if this
pin is dropped in with fervent faith all the many pins
which have been thrown into it may be seen rising from
the bottom to meet the new one.
Near Wooller in Northumberland is a spring known as
the " Pin Well," into which country girls are wont to drop
a crooked pin as they pass, and a similar well is situated in
Westmoreland, where the like custom prevails. The idea
in both places is that the well is in charge of a fairy, and
that it is necessary to propitiate the little lady by a present
of some sort ; and hence the pin as most convenient. It is
made crooked for luck's sake ; crooked things being con-
sidered, according to long-standing tradition, as lucky
things, as our grandmothers were wont to carry crooked
sixpences in their purses.
As I stated above, a belief in the miraculous virtues of
certain wells has been retained till comparatively modern
times. Thus, a spring in connection with the ancient
Abbey of Glastonbury, as Mr. Hardwick tells us, sustained
its reputation for sanctity and for medical virtues until a
very recent period. " In consequence of some astounding
and, indeed, miraculous cures supposed to be effected by its
agency, immense numbers of invalids flocked to it in the
years 1750 and 1751. It. is said that in the month of May
278 CHURCH FOLKLORE.
in the latter year 10,000 persons visited Glastonbury under
the influence of this superstition."
There seems to be a good deal of credulousness in the
matter of special wells in Scotland, as witness the Craigie
Well mentioned by Chambers. 1 His correspondent is
rather vague as to its locality, but I believe it is in East
Ross-shire, and I will briefly summarise what is said about
the Craigie Well.
The first Sunday morning in May is the day prescribed
by tradition for the people to visit the well, and no one
dreams of going there without bringing some sort of offer-
ing, as it would be considered an insult to the " healing
waters " to omit it. The intrinsic value of the present
seems to be a matter of indifference, for on a briar bush
close by were to be seen a number of scraps of cloth which
were hung up there as offerings.
The writer above-mentioned states that for more than a
week before the morning appointed for this strange
pilgrimage there is scarcely a word heard among farm-
servants within five miles of the spot but the question: —
" Are thee no ganging to Craigack Well to get thour
health secured another year ? " He paid a visit to the
place on one occasion in order to see how the pilgrims
passed the Sunday morning there. Although he arrived
an hour before sunrise, a number of people were already
there, and numbers from all quarters were still pouring in.
The people were eagerly pressing forward in order to get
a drink at the well before the sun appeared, for the popular
belief is that the water will otherwise have no beneficial
effect. On the morning when the writer in the " Book of
Days " was there an incident occurred which illustrated
this belief. He says: — "The sun was now shooting up his
first rays when all eyes were directed to the top of the
brae, attracted by a man coming in great haste, whom all
1 " Book of Days," vol. i., p. 638.
HOLY WELLS. 279
recognised as Jack Forsyth, a very honest and pious, but
eccentric individual. Scores of voices shouted, ' You are
too late, Jock, the sun is i*ising ; surely you have slept this
morning.' The newcomer, a middle-aged man with a droll
squint, perspiring profusely, and out of breath, pressed,
nevertheless, through the crowd, and stopped not till he
reached the well. Then muttering a few inaudible words,
he bent down on his knees and took a large draught. He
then rose up and said — ' Lord, Thou knowest that weel
would it be for me this day an I had stooped my knees and
my heart before Thee in spirit and in truth as often as I
have stoopit them afore this well, but we maun keep the
custom of our fathers.' So he stepped aside among the
rest, and dedicated his offering to the briar bush, which by
this time could hardly be seen through the number of
shreds which covered it."
Since the above was written, there has, I understand,
been a perceptible decrease in the numbers resorting to
Craigie Well.
As regards the offering of rags at holy wells, the Rev.
J. T. Fowler tells me that there is a spring at Holy Well
Dale, near Winterton, Lincolnshire, formerly celebrated for
its healing properties, and the bushes around used to be
hung with scraps of cloth as offerings from visitors.
In olden times it was the custom in Wales, supposing
that there was in the parish a well dedicated to a saint, to
use the water from it on the occasion of a baptism. Brand
tells us that such water, after it had been used for baptism,
was believed to be good for sore eyes.
As we have seen above, anything seems to have been
good enough as an offering by persons visiting holy Wells.
In the neighbourhood of Newcastle-on-Tyne, is a holy
spring which used to be called " Ray Well." Not far off is
Bede's Well. So late as the middle of the last century, it.
was the custom to dip children in it if they were troubled
280 CHURCH FOLKLORE.
with any bodily in6rmity. The fee to the well seems to
have been scarcely commensurate with its supposed efficacy,
for it consisted only of a crooked pin !
It appears that this resorting of people to holy wells
did not find favour with the authorities of the Scottish
establishment. Thus we learn from the session records,
that in 1628 a number of persons were brought before the
kirk session at Falkirk, and were accused of going to
Christ's Well on the Sundays in May to seek their
health, and the whole being found guilty were sentenced to
repent " in linens " three several Sabbaths. " And it is
statute and ordained that if any person or persons be found
superstitiously and idolatrously, after this, to have passed
in pilgrimage to Christ's Well on the Sundays in May to
seek their health, they shall repent in sacco (sackcloth) and
linen three several Sabbaths, and pay twenty lib (Scots)
toties quoties for ilk fault, and if they cannot pay it the
baillies shall be recommended to put them in ward, and to
be fed on bread and water for aught days." 1 Hone adds,
that for the preservation of the charm, the pilgrims were
obliged to keep silence the whole time to and from the
well, and not allow the vessel in which the water was to
touch the ground. Mr. Robert Keir, who sent this extract,
further notes that in 1657, a number of parishioners were
summoned to the session for believing in the powers of the
Well of Airth, a village about six miles north of Falkirk
on the banks of the Forth ; and the whole were sentenced
to be publicly rebuked for the sin. Then again, on Feb.
3, 1757, and on subsequent days, eleven people were
summoned before the kirk session for the crime of going
to this same well to fetch water for the cure of their suffer-
ing relations and friends. These people were all publicly
admonished for " superstitious carriage." Nevertheless,
early in this century, a farmer and his servant were known
1 " Every Day Book," ii., 686.
HOLY WELLS. 28 1
to travel fif t}' miles for the purpose of bringing water from
•a charmed well in the Highlands to cure their sick cattle.
Closely connected with the veneration with which holy
wells were regarded, is the annual Well Dressing Festival
at Tissington, near Ashbourne in Derbyshire. This takes
place on Ascension Day. I am sorry that I have never
been present on this occasion, so that I might give a
personal description of the ceremony. However, the vicar
of Tissington has told me that the account given by an
eye-witness in Chambers' " Book of Days " is sufficiently
accurate, and that I may safely take it as the basis of my
description.
Chambers' volumes were published in 1866, and, no
doubt, since then, tastefulness in the style of dressing the
wells has improved, but judging from a print illustrating
the mode of decoration five-and-thirty years ago, it must
even then have been very effective.
The writer above referred to, tells us that on the Holy
Thursday he was at Tissington, and although he was there
in good time, the village was full of visitors who had come
© ' ©
from places many miles round to take part in the festival,
and booths were erected to supply the rustics with nuts,
■and gingerbread, and to3 T s. The church was crowded quite
early, and large numbers of people were unable to get
admission, but had to wait outside for that part of the
•service which was conducted at the several wells. As soon
as the sermon was ended the clergyman left the pulpit, and
inarched into the village at the head of the procession
"which was formed. After him came the band, then the
family from the Hall, and their visitors, the rest of the
congregation following. A halt was made at the first of
the five wells, and I must give the rest of the ceremony in
i;he writer's own words. He says: —
" The name ' well ' scarcely gives a proper idea of these
beautiful structures; they are rather fountains or cascades,
282 CHURCH FOLKLORE.
the water descending from above, and not rising as in a.
well. Their height varies from ten to twelve feet, and the
original stone frontage is on this day hidden by a wooden
erection in the form of an arch or some other elegant-
design. Over these planks a layer of plaster of Paris is
spread, and whilst it is wet, flowers without leaves are
stuck in it forming a most beautiful mosaic pattern. On
one the large yellow field ranunculus was arranged in
letters, and so a verse of Scripture or of a hymn was
recalled to the spectator's mind ; on another, a white dove
was sculptured in the plaster and set in the ground- work
of the humble violet ; the daisy which our poet Chaucer
would gaze upon for hours together formed a diaper work
of red and white ; the pale yellow primrose was set off by
the rich red of the ribes ; nor were the coral berries of the
holly, mountain ash, and yew forgotten. These are care-
fully gathered and stored in the winter to be ready for the
May Day Fete."
Here I must interpose a passing remark to prevent mis-
apprehension. Why the writer calls it a " May Day Fete "
I know not. As a matter of fact Holy Thursday very
rarely indeed falls on May Day, and if it did, the well-
dressing could not be called a " May Day Fete," but an
" Ascension Day Fete." From 1 866 to the present time
(1893) Ascension Day has never once fallen on May 1.
The next time that this will happen will be in 1913. But
to return ; the writer goes on to say : —
" It is scarcely possible to describe the vivid colouring
and beautiful effect of these favourites of nature arranged
in wreaths and garlands and devices of every hue, and
then the pure sparkling water which pours down from the
midst of them into the rustic moss-grown stones beneath
completes the enchantment, and makes this feast of the-
well -flowering one of the most beautiful of all the old
customs that are left in merrie England."
HOLY WELLS. 283
We now come to a description of the religious function
which takes place by the wells. The writer says : — " The
groups of country people and visitors, dressed in their
holyday clothes, stood reverently round while the clergy-
man read the first of the three psalms appointed for the
day, and then gave out one of Bishop Heher's beautiful
hymns, in which all joined with heart and voice. When
this was over all moved forward to the next well where
the next psalm was read and another hymn sung ; the
Epistle and the Gospel being read at the last two wells.
The service was now over, and the people dispersed to
wander through the village and park which is thrown
open. The cottagers vie with each other in showing hos-
pitality to the strangers, and many kettles are boiled at
their fires for those who have brought the materials for a
picnic on the green. It is welcomed as a season of mirth
and good fellowship, many old friends meeting then to
separate for another year should they be spared to see the
well-dressing again ; whilst the country people enjoy their
games and country pastimes with their usual vivacity.
From what the vicar, the Rev. James Fitzherbert, has
told me, I do not think that this description is at all over-
coloured. He assures me that the religious part of the
ceremony is no modern introduction. He himself can
vouch for its having been carried on for forty or fifty
years ; and his uncle, Sir W. Fitzherbert, the squire of the
parish, can remember it further back than that. The custom,
he says, was in abeyance at one time by reason of certain
religious differences of opinion, and anti-Popery agitation ;
but these soon blew over, and the ceremony went on as
before. Ascension Day is the greatest day in the whole
year with these simple village folk. They clean their
houses, paint their garden gates, and smarten up for weeks
beforehand, and the vicar tells me that visitors who have
1 "Book of Days," i., p. 596.
284 CHURCH FOLKLORE.
never witnessed the well-dressing before have always ex-
pressed their unbounded surprise at the beauty of the whole
scene.
A word or two may properly be said as to the supposed
origin of the well-dressing custom. It ma3 T , of course, be a
Christianised survival of the old Roman usage of honouring
religiously fountains and wells. There are, however, those
who assign to the ceremony a more modern date. It seems
that, in 1615, a fearful drought visited Derbyshire, and that
no rain fell from March 25 to May 2. Then there was but
one shower. Two more came between the latter date and
August 4 . Thus the whole land was burnt up, yet the
Tissington fountains, according to tradition, continued to
flow during the time, so that people from ten miles round
drove their cattle to drink of the Tissington wells.
There are several other places in Derbyshire where the
custom of well-dressing takes place ; but, if I mistake not,
these are all more or less modern imitations of the Tissing-
ton ceremony, and have no claim to be reckoned with it.
Before I pass on to other matters, I will insert some
pretty lines which have been written in honour of the
Tissington Festival.
" Still, Dovedale, yield thy flowers to deck the fountains
Of Tissington upon its holyday ;
The customs long preserved among the mountains
Should not be lightly left to pass away.
" They have their moral, and we often may
Learn from them how our wise forefathers wrought,
Whom they upon the public mind would lay
Some weighty principle, some maxim brought
Home to their hearts, the healthful product of deep thought."
— Edwards.
CHAPTER XV.
SURVIVALS OF HEATH EX CUSTOMS.
Although most cultured persons have a vague idea that
some of our religious or quasi-religious customs may have
their origin in distinctly heathen practices which existed
before the Christian era, there are few, I take it, who could
give distinct examples of heathen survivals of a more or
less definite kind. Such instances, however, are to be
found in our own day, and my object in this paper is to
point out some of them.
To begin with Devonshire. The Rev. A. T. Fryer, who
was brought up in that county, tells me of a distinctly
heathen sacrifice, only modernised, which is still kept up
in the parish of King's Teignton, not far from Teignmouth,
every Whitsuntide, an account of which is to be found in
White's " Devonshire." It appears that on Whitsun Mon-
day a lamb is drawn about the parish in a cart decorated
with garlands of lilac, laburnum, and other flowers, and
persons are requested to give something towards the ex-
penses of the ceremonial. On Tuesday the lamb is killed
and roasted whole in the middle of the village. It is said
that formerly it was roasted in the bed of a stream which
flows through the village, the water of which had been
turned into a new channel temporarily in order that the
bed of the stream might be cleansed. The lamb, when
cooked, is sold in slices to the poor at a cheap rate. The
precise origin of the custom is forgotten, but a tradition,
285
286 CHURCH FOLKLORE.
evidently to be traced back to heathen days, is to this effect.
The village at some remote period suffered from a dearth
of water, and the inhabitants were advised by their priests
to pray to the gods for water, whereupon water sprang up
spontaneously in a meadow about a third of a mile above
the village, in an estate now called Rydon, amply sufficient
to supply the wants of the place, and at present adequate,
even in a dry summer, to work three mills. A lamb, it is
said, has ever since that time been sacrificed as a votive
offering at Whitsuntide in the manner before mentioned.
The said water appears like a large pond, from which, in
rainy weather, may be seen jets of water springing up some
inches above the surface in many parts. The place has
been visited by numbers of different scientific bodies, and
whether it is really a spring is still a vexed question. The
general opinion appears to be that the real spring is on
Haldon Hill, and that after flowing down to Lindridge it
loses itself in the fissures of the lime rock which abounds
in the neighbourhood through which it flows ; when it,
meets with some impediment it bursts up through the soft
meadow ground at Bydorj, where it has ever had the name
of " Fair Water."
Another Devonshire sacrificial custom, evidently having
its origin in pagan times, is recorded by " An Old Holne
Curate." He says that at Holne, on Dartmoor, the youno-
men, before daybreak on May Day, assemble and seize a
ram lamb on the moor. This they fasten to a certain
granite pillar, kill it, and roast it whole. At mid-day they
scramble to get slices of it to secure good luck for the
ensuing year. The day ends with dancing, wrestling,
etc.
At Prestonpans, half a century ago, it was customary for
the fishermen to set sail on a Sundaj-. A clergyman in
the town was believed to be in the habit of praying against
what he regarded as their " Sabbath breaking," but to pre-
SURVIVALS OF HEATHEN CUSTOMS. 287
vent any injury accruing from his prayer the fishermen
■used to offer a burnt sacrifice, the victim being an image of
rags, which was burnt on the top of their chimneys.
The following is a tolerably strong example of the sur-
vival of a distinctly heathen sacrifice, and when names and
localities are given, as in this case, the most sceptical must
accept it as true in fact : —
Mr. Henderson wrote his " Folklore of the Northern
■Counties " in 1879, and he says : — " Not fifteen years ago
a herd of cattle in the county of Moray being attacked
with murrain, one of them was sacrificed by burying alive
■as a propitiatory offering for the rest ; and I am informed
by Professor Morecco that a live ox was burnt near Halt-
whistle in Northumberland only twenty years ago with
the same intent. A. similar observance has also lingered on
•among the Celtic population of Cornwall almost, if not
quite, to the present day." It is somewhat startling to read
of an ox being offered as a burnt sacrifice in England in
our own times after fifteen or more centuries of Christianity.
But Mr. Henderson gives other examples of similar doings.
They appear, however, to be commoner in Scotland than in
England. The Rev. S. Baring-Gould, as I am informed,
has stated that in building a new bridge at Halle, which
was completed in 1843, the people wanted to have a child
immured in the foundation to ensure its stability, so the
idea of even human sacrifices can scarcely be said to be
extinct in civilised Europe.
Professor J. Y. Simpson, M.D., in his notes on some
■" Scottish Charm Stones," printed in the Proceedings of the
Society of Antiquaries of Scotland, states that he knows
of two localities in the Lowlands, one near Biggar in
Lanarkshire, and the other near Torpichcn in West
Lothian, where, within the memory of the past and present
generation, living cows have been sacrificed for curative
288 CHURCH FOLKLORE.
purposes, or under the hope of arresting the murrain in
other members of the herd. In both these cases the cow-
was sacrificed by being buried alive.
In the Record Office, vol. ccxxiv., No. 74, under date 1589,
is a letter from one Price giving information of gross
idolatry in Wales. He says that bullocks were offered to
idols, and that he saw a young man drive one through a
little porch into the churchyard, and heard him cry out,.
" Thy half to God and to Beyno." This was in the parish
of Clynnog, about fifteen miles from Bangor. He repre-
sents people as being afraid to cut down trees growing on
Beyno's ground, lest he should kill them.
Sir J. Emerson Tennant, writing in 1852, notes that in
Lord Rodin's recently published book, entitled "Progress
of the Reformation in Ireland," there appears a curious
form of fetichism still existing in Inniskea, an island off
the coast of Mayo, with about three hundred and eighty
inhabitants, amongst whom his lordship says: — "A stone
carefully wrapped in flannel is brought out at certain periods
to be adored, and when a storm arises, this god is suppli-
cated to send a wreck on their coast. It is added that
whenever the aid of this stone god is sought, a flannel
dress is dedicated to it. This is sewed on by an old woman,
its priestess.
The following is a curious instance of the survival, in a
fashion, of the ancient Baal worship. A correspondent to
Notes and Queries states that the late Lady Baird, of Fern-
tower, Perthshire, told him that every year on the first of
May a number of men and women assemble at a Druidical
circle of stones on her property at Crieff. They light a fire
in the centre, and each person puts a bit of oat cake into a
shepherd's bonnet ; they all sit down, and draw blindfold
a piece of cake from the bonnet. One piece has been pre-
viously blackened, and whoever gets that piece has to jump
through the fire or pay a forfeit. This is, in fact, a remnant
SURVIVALS OF HEATHEN CUSTOMS. 289
still surviving of the ancient worship of Baal, and the
person on whom the lot fell would originally have been
burnt as a sacrifice. Now, passing through the fire is
taken to represent such a sacrifice, and the payment of the
forfeit is considered as the redemption of the victim from
the extreme penalty.
In a letter which I received some years ago from the
Rector of Charlcombe, Bath, and which is now before me,
he told me that in the County Donegal it was the custom
to pass an infant across the back and under the belly of a
donkey in order to avert measles. What the origin of this
could be I am unable to guess. He further stated in his
letter that in the same county the peasants used to drive
their cattle between two fires to keep off disease. This
last, said my correspondent, was certainly a remnant of
the ancient heathen festival of Baal, or Baal Tinne" (in that
parish there was a town land, Beltany, close to which was
a Druidical stone circle), kept about December 23, when
large bonfires were lighted for purposes of fire-worship, and
cattle driven through or between the fires to keep them
safe from plague.
The following paragraph appeared in the Pall Mall
Gazette on June 29, 1867 :—
" The accounts given by the Irish newspapers of the
extent to which the old superstition of fire-lighting on
Midsummer Eve still prevails show how slowly the relics
of paganism disappear among country people, and how
natural it was that the old idolatries should come at last
to be known as the Creed of the Pagana, the dwellers in
villages. These Midsummer fires lighted annually upon
the hills are simply relics of the worship of Bel. Bel-
tane or Belteine Day is still a May Day or Midsummer
festival in the more ignorant districts of Scotland as well as
of Ireland ; and similar superstitious practices are connected
290 CHURCH FOLKLORE.
with the lighting of the fires, and, what is still more re-
markable, the word is still used in some Scotch almanacs,
as a term well known to everybody. In a number of the
Scotsman a few j'ears ago appeared an announcement that,
on Beltane Day, Mr. Robertson was elected as Convener of
the Trades, in Canongate, in Edinburgh. The next year the
following is to be found — ' On Beltane Day, the weavers,
dyers, etc., of the Canongate, elected their office-bearers.' "
Mr. Charles Hardwick, in his " Traditions, Superstitions,
and Folklore," gives some instances of the strange sur-
vival of Baal-worship. He cites the following from
Grimm : — " In consequence of a disease amongst the black
cattle, the people agreed to perform an incantation, though
they esteemed it a wicked thing. They carried to the top
of Carnmoor a wheel and nine spindles, long enough to
produce fire by friction. If the fire were not produced be-
fore noon, the incantation lost its effect. They failed for
several days running. They attributed this failure to the
obstinacy of one householder, who would not let his fires
be put out for what he considered a wrong purpose. How-
ever, by bribing his servants, they contrived to get them
extinguished, and on that morning raised their fire. They
then sacrificed a heifer, cutting in pieces and burning,
while yet alive, the diseased part. They then lighted their
own hearths from the pile, and ended by feasting on the
remains. Words of incantation were repeated by an old
man from Morven, who came as master of the ceremonies,
and continued speaking all the time the fire was being
raised. Asked to repeat the spell, he said that the sin of
repeating it once had brought him to beggary, and that he
dared not say those words again."
Another curious instance of these pagan survivals is
given by Mr. Hardwick on the authority of Mr. T. T.
Wilkinson, who states that a Lancashire man whom he
SURVIVALS OF HEATHEN CUSTOMS. 29 1
knew had " unconsciously resorted to the old worship of
Baal, and consumed a live calf in a fire, in order to counter-
act the influence of his unknown enemies. It would ap-
pear that this unhappy victim of malice had resorted to
this heathen sacrifice as a last resource, for he had, as we
are told, previously nailed horse-shoes to all his doors, but
without effect."
So late as the latter portion of last century the records
of the Presbytery of Dingwall in Ross-shire show that in
the island of Innis Maree, in Loch Maree, bulls were
offered up as a sacrifice, and milk offered on the hill-side
as a libation. A hundred years previously, i.e. in 1678,
the Presbytery took action against some of the Mackenzie
family for " sacrificing a bull in a heathenish manner in
the island of St. Rufus, for the recovery of the health of
Cirstane Mackenzie, who was formerly sick and vale-
tudinarie." And to come down almost to the present time,
we are told by Mr. Robert Hunt in his " Drolls, Traditions
and Superstitions of Old Cornwall," published in 1865,
that within the last few years a calf has been thus sacri-
ficed by a farmer in a district where churches, chapels, and
schools abound. He afterwards adds, " While correcting
these sheets I am informed of two recent instances of this
superstition. One of them was the sacrifice of a calf by a
farmer near Pontreath for the purpose of removing a
disease which had long followed his horses and cows. The
other was the burning of a living lamb to save, as the
farmer said, his flock from spells which had been east on
'em."
The Cornish gentleman who sent me the interesting in-
formation concerning certain of the holy wells in his
county has written for me the following paragraphs rela-
tive to the Beltane survival in Cornwall : —
" The peculiar form of worshipping the Druidical deity
292 CHURCH FOLKLORE.
Belus, the sun, is retained in Cornwall on St. John's Day
under the name of Bel Tan or Bel Tein. Large bonfires
are kindled on the tops of the high hills, on June 24, and
on the following day, and the country people amuse them-
selves with excursions on the water. It appears to be a
remnant of an ancient Druidic festival instituted to im-
plore the friendly influence of Heaven on the fields, com-
pounded with that of May 1, when the Druids kindled
large fires on all their sacred places, such as Cam Bre,
Carnmerellis, Calvadnack, etc., and on the tops of the
cairns in honour of Bel, or Betinus, the name by which
they distinguished the sun whose revolving course had
again clothed the earth with beauty and diffused joy and
gladness throughout creation.
" If we reflect upon the rooted animosity which sub-
sisted between Roman and Druid, and that the latter on
being expelled from their former residences formed,
together with the miserable remnant of the Britons, an
asylum in the naturally fortified parts of the island, we
shall not be surprised at their customs having been faintly
handed down through such a long succession of ages.
That Cornwall was their retreat is sufficiently proved by
the numberless remains of circular temples, countless
cairns, bronze metal pillars, and beehive huts. It may,
therefore, be clearly inferred that in this remote situation
their observances were strictly carried out, and that the
corrupted ceremonies we still practise are faint memorials
of our British forefathers."
CHAPTER XVI.
POPULAR SUPERSTITIONS.
After what has been just written, showing the extent to
which the survival of heathen sacrifices has reached in
quite modern times, it seems the natural thing to consider
the question of popular religious superstitions. But, as a
preface to that part of our inquiry, an instance or two
illustrative of the ignorance which still exists in country
places upon religious matters may be useful.
The following has been sent me. A clergyman was
appointed to a benefice some twenty years ago, where
matters connected with the Church had been conducted in
a very rough and ready style. When the first great
festival occurred he was naturally anxious that the parish
church should be decorated with some sort of taste, in
place of having sprigs of evergreens poked in anywhere.
Thus, round the font was placed a legend in Old English
letters — perhaps not very easy for the rustics to decipher —
" One Lord, One Faith, One Baptism." It so happened
that there were three large landowners in the parish, and
the old clerk, who had regarded the whole proceeding with
suspicion, as an encroachment upon his province, said,
pointing to the font, " Well, at anyrate the squires will
like that." The words were read to him. " Oh ! " he
replied, " I thought it was ' One L., one F., one S.,' " men-
tioning each of the landed proprietors by name.
It is difficult to conceive anything more directly illustra-
tive of the principles of popular Protestantism than this-
2 93
294 CHURCH FOLKLORE.
Even in a church the first idea was the glorification of the
parochial notabilities; the last was the possibility of the
decoration of the font relating to God, and His revelation
and glory.
The next illustration is even more telling. About the
middle of this century a church was built in a certain
parish which had overgrown the accommodation provided
by the old church. The donor of the new building was a
certain retired tradesman, who by diligence had amassed a
considerable fortune. We will call him at random Isaac
Starkey. On the altar was a frontal bearing the sacred
monogram I. H. S. There was a good deal of interest
excited by the new church, and when it was opened a
number of people went to see it. Among these was a lady
of high social position. After looking round the interior of
the building, and admiring this and that, she said, " Yes,
the general effect is very nice, but there is one thing that I
don't like." Looking towards the east end she added, " It
was rather ostentatious of Mr. Starkey to put his initials
in so prominent a place, and I didn't know that he had any
other Christian name besides Isaac."
After this example of ignorance, which is strictly true,
my readers will have no difficulty in accepting what I have
to relate about popular superstitions which have remained
as relics of past ages.
The following appeared in a Welsh magazine about
thirty years ago, and I am indebted to the Rev. D.
Silvan Evans, of Llanwrin Rectory, Machynlleth, for the
translation : —
" Down to the last hundred years it was usual in many a
district in Wales to burn candles in the parish church on
the eve of All Souls, with a view of ascertaining what
fortune would happen to the inquirers during the succeed-
ing twelve months. These, consisting for the most part of
POPULAR SUPERSTITIONS. 295
young women, resorted after dark to the church, each
carrying a candle with her. At the appointed hour all the
candles were lighted by the sexton, whose presence and
services on the occasion were considered indispensable.
" The act of lighting the candles was accompanied by
every expression of gravity and earnestness, and the young
women watched with the greatest anxiety their respective
candles to see how they burned. If a candle burned
brightly and clearly it augured favourably for its owner,
and signified that prosperity and happiness would be her
lot. If it burned slowly and gloomily, and in an irregular
or crackling manner, then the person whose property it
was would surely meet with trouble and misfortunes of
various kinds. If, however, the candle went out before it
had burned to the socket, then its owner was regarded as
about to die in the course of the year ; and, as little doubt
had they on the subject as if the Angel of Death were seen
at that moment sealing her fate.
" But not only did they observe the general manner in
which the candles burned, or draw prognostications from
the light of each as a whole, but they marked carefully
how each portion burned, and these portions were sup-
posed to represent the different parts of the year, so that
they pretended to divine the various phases of their lives
during the ensuing twelve months.
" When the last candle was burnt out they all left the
church, and, having walked two or three times round the
building, they proceeded homewards to bed, without utter-
ing a single word to anyone. Not a syllable was to be
spoken from the time of their quitting the church until
they awoke on the following morning. If they had spoken
to anyone the whole charm would at once have been
broken, and all their labour would have been utterly lost.
During their sleep on that night their lovers would
appear to them, even those whom they should wed when'
2^6 CHURCH FOLKLORE.
the time was fulfilled which had been foretold by the
fates."
It is this custom which Ellis Wynne refers to in his
"Visions of the Sleeping Bard," first published in
1703.
Sometimes these candle divinations were attended with
melancholy, and occasionally with ludicrous results.
Once in a church at Llangian, near Pwllheli, where my
informant was curate for ten years, the candle of a young
woman from the neighbourhood happened to go out when
it was only half burnt. She implicitly accepted the omen,
and took the whole affair to heart so much that she would
not be comforted, and in less than three weeks she was a
■corpse.
In the same church, on a similar occasion, the following
occurrence took place : — When all the diviners were in
church, and all the candles on the point of burning out, a
wag from the village resolved to go and frighten the
■credulous women. Accordingly he dressed himself in a
white sheet, and proceeded, under cover of the darkness,
towards the church door. The ground outside was much
higher than the floor of the church, to reach which it was
necessary to descend two or three steps. Having arrived
■at the door, the man leaned his back against it, that he
anight be prepared to encounter the women on their egress.
The door was unfastened, and yielded to the weight of his
person, and backwards he tumbled with a heavy crack into
the church. If the divining women were terrified, much
more was he himself, and hurt too. The bruises which he
received from his fall compelled him to keep his bed for
several weeks afterwards, and the annals of the village do
not tell us that he ever repeated his experiment.
In some districts it was usual to observe these ceremonies
on the eves of the parish festivals or wakes, instead of
POPULAR SUPERSTITIONS. 297
All Saints' Eve, and on these occasions the women some-
times offered a few pence to the patron saint.
Having spoken of the village " Wake," it may be well to
state here that originally it was held on the day of the
saint to whom the church was dedicated, but as these fes-
tivities were often badly conducted, Convocation passed an
Act in 1536 to restrain them, and to diminish their number.
The Dedication Festival was ordered to be observed only
on the first Sunday in October. Hence the severance of
the wake from the day of the patron saint. Upon this sub-
ject reference may be made to Hazlitt's edition of Brand,
vol. iii. 3. In illustration of this, the Rev. A. Atkinson,
Vicar of Audlem, Cheshire, has written as follows : — " Our
Saints' Day is St. James' (July 25), but our village wake
is held early in October, ' Wake Sunday ' being that
nearest to October 2, and the wake is held on the week
following."
The same gentleman who was kind enough to send me
the account of the divination by candles, related above, has
-also told me that in some parts of Wales there is a strange
idea prevailing amongst the people that if a person goes
alone to the church door just before midnight on the last
night of the year, and puts his ear to the keyhole, a voice
from within will inform him of the principal occurrences
which will take place in the parish in the course of the year
which is about to begin. These will chiefly relate to mar-
riages and deaths. Should he take anybody with him
when he goes to listen, no revelation will be made to him.
In the parish of Marston St. Lawrence, Northamptonshire,
there used to be a notion very prevalent that rainwater
collected on Holy Thursday was of powerful efficacy in all
diseases of the eyes.
Another curious idea in connection with Ascension Day
was related by a correspondent to the Echo newspaper of
Hay 24, 1879. He wrote as follows : —
298 CHURCH FOLKLORE.
" On Thursday (Ascension Day) the Bethesda Slate Quar-
ries were entirely closed, not, however, out of respect to the
religious character of the day, but in deference to a super-
stition which has lingered for many years amongst the
Penrhyn quarrymen, that working on Ascension Day was-
sure to be attended with a fatality or accident of a serious
character. Some six years back, the management suc-
ceeded in partly overcoming this feeling, and several of the-
men worked, an arrangement which was continued about
two years. Strange to say, there was always an accident,
and Ascension Day continues to be an idle day so far as
the Penrhyn quarrymen are concerned."
Most people have heard by tradition of the divination
by Bible and Key. Here is a curious instance mentioned
by a correspondent to Notes and Queries, who wrote from
Godalming : — " When any article is supposed to have been
stolen, a Bible is produced, and opened at the first chapter
of Ruth. The stock of the street door key is placed on the
sixteenth verse of the above chapter, the handle protruding
from the edge of the Bible, and the key is secured in this,
position by a string bound tightly round the book. The
person who works the charm then places his two middle
fingers under the handle of the key, and this keeps the
Bible suspended. He then repeats in succession the names
of the persons suspected of the theft, quoting at each name
a portion of the verse on which the key is placed, begin-
ning, ' Whither thou goest I will go,' etc. When the name
of the guilty person is pronounced, the key turns off
the finger, and the Bible falls to the ground. Thus the
guilt of the supposed thief is determined. The belief of
some of the more ignorant of the lower orders in this-
charm is unbounded. I have seen," says the writer, " this
practised in other counties, the key being placed over Pro-
verbs xix. 5."
POPULAR SUPERSTITIONS. 299
In Brand's book (ed. Ellis) it is stated that the key was
placed upon Psalm cl.
The Vicar of Godalming has told me that he has not
heard of any such custom in his parish ; but yet I have no
right to suppose that the usage may not have been as
stated by the writer quoted above.
Somewhat akin to this is a custom which used to be
common in Suffolk, and which possibly exists in out of the
way places still. On New Year's Eve it was the practice to
open a Bible at midnight, and to stick a piu into the page
at haphazard. The verse indicated by the pin was sup-
posed to show whether the experimenter would have good
or bad luck during the incoming year.
We will now pass on to consider the popular superstitions
which cluster round the Holy Eucharist.
Mr. Henderson says that a belief in the efficacy of the
sacred Species in the Eucharist for the cure of bodily disease
is widely spread throughout the north. A clergyman has
informed him that he knows of one Element having been
secreted for that purpose, and that he has found it
necessary to watch persons who appeared to have such
an intention.
A clergyman at Birmingham wrote to me only last year
to say that at a parish in Kent, where his father is rector,
" there is a superstition that if, instead of eating the Sacra-
mental Bread it is taken away and a walk taken with it
three times round the church, the devil will be encountered
at the end of the third journey, who will ask for the Bread;
having received which, the giver is completely in his power
for the remainder of his life."
After such a grossly sacrilegious act I can quite believe
that the popular idea would come true.
It is evident that abominations of this kind were not
uncommon in pre-Reformation days, otherwise how are we
300 CHURCH FOLKLORE.
to interpret the meaning of the following rubric in Edward
VI.'s First Prayer Book ?
" And although it be redde in auncient writers that the
people many yeares past received at the Priestes handes the
Sacrament of the Body of Christ in theyr owne handes.
and no commandment of Christ to the contrary : Yet for-
asmuche as they many tymes conveyehed the same
secretelye awaye, kept it with them, and diversly abused
it to the supersticion and wickednes : lest any suche thynge
hereafter should be attempted, and that an uniformitie
might bo used throughoute the whole Real me : it is thought
convenient the people commonly receive the Sacrament of
Christes body, in their mouthes, at the Priestes hande."
A Herefordshire clergyman tolls me that he recently had
a request from a Dissenter for what the applicant called
"A Sacrament Shilling" — i.e. a shilling given during the
offertory at Holy Communion — to buy a ring to cure a girl
of fits. The shilling was to be paid for in coppers.
To show how widely spread this idea was, yet with a
slight variation in the matter of practical detail, we will
go to Lincolnshire. The vicar of a parish in that county
has told me that he was once asked by a woman, who was
a Primitive Methodist, to give her a shilling of " Sacra-
ment Money " (as she called it) in exchange for another
shilling, because her son had epileptic fits, and she had
heard that if a "Sacrament piece of silver" were hung
round his neck it would cure him.
From the east of England we will turn westwards. The
late Colonel Bagnall, when he was churchwarden of West
Bromwich, told me, some ten years ago, that there, until
quite lately, it was the custom for rheumatic people to
apply to the vicar for a " Sacrament shilling " to rub on
the limb where the pain was in order to cure it.
POPULAR SUPERSTITIONS. 301
In Hampshire, also, writes Mr. F. M. Middleton, the
country people believe that a healing power exists in the
alms collected at the Holy Communion. 1
One more instance from a place far distant from the last.
A lady residing near Shrewsbury has written to me to say
that she remembers a woman, a churchwoman this time, I
presume, whose child was afflicted with fits, coming to her and
saying that if the parson would but give her a " Sacrament
shilling " it would cure him directly. She would make a
hole in it, and hang it round his neck, and he would
never have, another fit.
To pass on to other supposed curative agencies. It is
probable that the following usage will be new to most of
my readers.
In one of the principal towns in Yorkshire, at the be-
ginning of the present century, it was the practice of
persons in what is called a " respectable " class of life, to
take their children when afflicted with whooping-cough to
a neighbouring convent, where the priest allowed them to
drink a small quantity of holy water out of a silver chalice,
which the little sufferers were forbidden to touch. This was
regarded as a remedy by Roman Catholic and Protestant
parents alike. 2
Mr. Henderson tells us of a piece of one of the statues on
the west front of Exeter Cathedral, having been knocked
off within the last thirty years or so. This was in order
that the stone might be pounded up and mixed with lard
to make an ointment for the supposed cure of sores. It
was called " Peter's Stone," and a man is known to have
walked from Teignmouth, a distance of eighteen miles at
least, and to have flung stones at the figures until he
1 Notes and Queries, Dec, 24, 1853.
- Ibid., March 22, 1851.
302 CHURCH FOLKLORE.
brought down the arm of one of them, in order to get the
stone for the above purpose. 1
A somewhat similar piece of credulous Vandalism
formerly took place in the church of Penmynydd, in con-
nection with a fourteenth century tomb of alabaster. The
relic has been seriously damaged by the inhabitants, who
believed that portions of it, when ground, were good for
sore eyes. 2
Here is another instance. At Clynnog church, in the
diocese of Bangor, there is a chapel dedicated to St. Benno,
the founder, to which attaches the belief that the powdered
scrapings of the stone columns are efficacious as a sovereign
cure in cases of eye disease. A pinch of this powder is
added to a bottle of spring water, and thus a collyrium is
made, which is duly applied with all faith in its healing
virtues. 3
Some kind friend has sent me a cutting from Notes and
Queries, but has merely mentioned that it appeared in
1882. As I have not the volume at hand I cannot give the
exact reference. It relates to a bit of Surrey church
folklore in connection with a supposed remedy for
shingles.
The writer says that the other day he inquired of his
farm man the reason of the carter's boy's absence. The
man replied, " He has got the shingles, and I have told his
father to get the coomb (as he pronounced it) off the church
bells, and rub the boy with it. They say it is the best
thing for it." He then added, " If the shingles meets all
round you it's most sure to kill you." The writer ex-
presses his regret that the father did not follow the
advice, but cured the boy with the more commonplace
remedy of ink. The coomb, as the farm bailiff called it, is
1 " Folklore," p. 156.
2 Arclmologkal Journal, vol. i., p. 127 (1845).
3 Notes and Queries, Nov. 15, 1873.
POPULAR SUPERSTITIONS. 303
a sort of secretion of moss which gathers on old bells when
they are exposed to damp.
I believe that I am correct in saying, that as a matter of
fact, the shingles, though a troublesome malady, never do
entirely compass the body of the person who is attacked by
them ; and even if they did, I cannot see that any serious
mischief would be likely to ensue.
A lady at Torquay, who has been good enough to send
me some valuable notes relative to church folklore, has
told me that at Morchard Bishop in North Devon a cup of
dew collected in the churchyard on May morning was
formerly thought good for a person in consumption. She
remembers an instance in which it was obtained and
applied.
In a former chapter mention was made of the custom in
the north of England of carrying round " Advent Images."
These dressed dolls were surrounded with evergreen leaves,
■and everybody to whom the figures were shown was
allowed to take a leaf. This was carefully preserved, and
was regarded as a sovereign remedy for toothache.
The " touching " for the king's evil or scrofula, ought, by
right, to have come first amongst what are commonly
called the " Healing Superstitions," which were current
amongst our forefathers. It will, I believe, interest some
•of my readers if I give the text of the service, which, with
more or less variation was commonly used. The version
which I print is that given by Maskell in his Monumenta
Jtitualia. But it may be interesting if I first give a few
details respecting this odd bit of old-world credulousness.
It is said that Clovis was the first monarch who adopted
this method in 481, and the use was continued at intervals.
The first who practised it in England was Edward the
Confessor, in 1058. Henry II. " touched," and so did
Edward II., and Edward III., and Richard II. Henry
VII. revived the custom, and Henry VIII. continued it.
304 CHURCH FOLKLORE.
And so, onwards. Charles II. seems to have been a most
skilful manipulator, and he is said to have "touched"
92,107 persons .during his reign, most of whom, according
to the king's physician, were cured. Queen Anne seems to
have been the last who administered the royal "touch."
George I. believed in very little, and least of all in the efficacy
of the royal privilege of curing scrofula, and the practice has
been abandoned since 1714.
The following form is believed to be the one used by
Henry VII. It was reprinted as it stands below " by His
Majesty's command in 1686." Mr. Maskell tells us that
" the form, entirely in English, prayers as well as rubrics,
occur often in the Common Prayer Books of the reigns of
Charles I. and II., James II. and Queen Anne. It was
also printed separately in the reign of James II. These
English forms all vary, and a new one appears to have
been drawn up for each sovereign. Bishop Sparrow
reprinted that of the reign of Charles II."
The form is as follows : —
The Ceremonies for the healing of them that be
diseased with the king's evil, as they were prac-
tised in the reign of klng henry vii.
First the king, kneeling, shall begin and say :
In Nomine Patris, et Filii, et Spiritus Sancti. Amen.
And so soon as he hath said this he shall say :
Benedicite.
The chaplain, kneeling before the king, having a stole
about his\neck, shall answer and say :
Dominus sit in corde tuo et labiis tuis, ad confitendum
omnia peccata tua ; in Nomine Patris, et Filii, et Spiritus
Sancti. Amen.
Or else to say :
POPULAR SUPERSTITIONS. 305
Jesus nos exaudiat, in Nomine Patris, et Filii, et Spiritus
Sancti. Amen.
Then by and by the king shall say :
Confiteor Deo, beatse Marise Virgini, omnibus Sanctis, et
vobis, quia peccavi nimis in cogitatione, locutione, et opere,
mea culpa. Precor sanctam Mariam, omnes sanctos Dei, et
vos orare pro me.
The chaplain shall answer and say :
Misereatur vestri omnipotens Deus et dimittat vobis
omnia peccata vestra, liberet vos ab omni malo, salvet et
connrmet in bono, et ad vitam perducat eternam. Amen.
Absolutionem et remissionem omnium peccatorum ves-
trorum, spatium vero psenitentise et emendationem vitse,
gratiam et consolationem Sancti Spiritus, tribuat vobis
omnipotens et miseracors Dominus. Amen.
This done, the chaplain shall say :
Dominus vobiscum.
The king shall answer :
Et cum spiritu tiio.
The chaplain :
Sequentia sancti evangelii secundum Marcum.
The king shall answer :
Gloria tibi Domine.
The chaplain shall read the gospeV
In illo tempore. Recumbentibus undecem discipulis . .
nocebit. Super segros manus imponent, et bene habebunt.
Which clause, Super aegros, etc., the chaplain repeats as
long as the king is handling the sick person. And in the
time of the repeating the aforesaid words, Super gegros, etc.,
the clerk of the closet shall kneel before the king, having the
sick person upon the right hand, and the sick person shall
likewise kneel before the king ; and the king shall lay his
hand upon the sore of the sick person.
This done, the chaplain shall make an end of the gospel ;
!St. Markxvi. U-18.
U
306 CHURCH FOLKLORE.
and in the meantime the chirurgeon shall lead away the
sick person from the king?
Et Dominus quidem Jesus, postquam . . . sequentibus
signis.
Then the chaplain shall begin to say again :
Dominus vobiscura.
The king shall answer :
Et cum spiritu tuo.
The chaplain :
Initium sancti evangelii secundum Ioannem.
The king shall say :
Gloria tibi Domine.
The chaplain shall then say this gospel following :
In principio erat Verbum ... in hunc mundum.
Which last clause, Erat lux vera, etc., shall still be re-
peated so long as the king shall be crossing the sore of the
sick person with an Angel Noble ; and the sick person to
have the same angel hanged about his neck, and to wear it
■until he be full whole.
This done, the chirurgeon shall lead away the sick per-
son as he did before ; and then the chaplain shall make an
end to the gospel.
In mundo erat, et mundus per ipsum f actus est ; . . . .
plenum gratite et veritatis.
Then the chaplain shall say :
Sit nomen Domini benedictum.
The king shall answer :
Et hoc nunc, et usque in saeculum.
Then shall the chaplain say this collect following, pray-
ing for the sick person or persons :
Domine exaudi orationem meam.
The king- shall answer :
Et clamor meus ad te veniat.
Oremus.
1 St. Mark xvi. 19.
POPULAR SUPERSTITIONS. 307
Omnipotens sempiterne Deus, salus eterna credentium,
exaudi nos pro famulis tuis, pro quibus miseracordio tuo
imploramus auxilium, ut reddita tibi sanitate, gratiarum
tibi in ecclesia tua referent actiones. Per Christum Do-
minum nostrum. Amen.
This prayer is to be said secretly after the sick persons
are departed from, the king, at his pleasure :
Dominator Domine, Deus omnipotens, cujus benedigni-
tate, coeci vident, surdi audiunt, muti loquentur, claudi am-
bulant, leprosi mundantur, omnes infirm orum curantur
languores, et a quo solo donurn sanitationis humano generi
etiam tribuitur, et tanta gratia pro incredibili tua erga hoc
regnum bonitate, regibus ejusdem eoncessa est, at sola
manuum illorum impositione, morbus gravissimus fceditissi-
musque depellatur, concede propitius ut tibi propteria
gratias agamus, et pro isto singular! beneficio in nos collato
non nobis ipsis, sed nomini tuo assidue gloriam demus,
nosque sic ad pietatam semper exerceamus, ut tuam nobis
donatam gratiam non solum diligenter conservare, sed in
dies magis magisque adaugere laboremus, et proesta, ut
quorum cunque corporibus, in nomine tuo manus imposuiro-
mus, hac tua virtute in illis operante et nobis ministrantibus.
ad pristinam sanitatem restituantur, earn conservent, et pra
eadem tibi, ut summo medico efc omnium morborum depul-
sori, perpetuo nobis cum gratias agant : sicque deinceps-
vitain instituant ut non corpus solum ab infirmitate, sed
anima etiam a peccato omnino sanata videatur. Per Domi-
num nostrum Jesum Christum, Filium tuum, qui tecum
vivit et regnat in unitate Sancti Spiritus per omnia scecula
soeculorum. Amen.
Having dealt with certain superstitious usages in cases
of sickness, two or three of those connected with death will
be interesting. The following is odd enough, an M.D.
writes : — " An old woman of my acquaintance who acted
308 CHURCH FOLKLORE.
as beadle, or ' bobber ' of a churcb once brought to the bed
of a dying person some of the sweepings of the floor by
the altar to ease and shorten a very lingering death." 1
The Vicar of Winchcombe has stated to me that about
three years ago an old woman died of dropsy in his parish.
As her body swelled to a great extent, one of the family
was sent to the sexton to ask for a small piece of turf from
the old churchyard to place on her body to prevent it
swelling any more. He was very particular that the turf
should be taken from the old churchyard, now disused,
and not from the new burying-place, which had been open
for some twenty-five years or more. His request was
granted.
Here is another curious idea. A contributor to Notes
and Queries states that when he was at Charlcombe, near
Bath, in 1852, the parish clerk requested the loan of the
Paten from the clergyman. Being asked for what purpose,
he said he wanted it to put salt in it, and to lay it on the
breast of a dying person to make him die easier.
A medical man whilst in practice at Howden in
Northumberland was called in some years ago to prescribe
for an infant suffering from the sins of its progenitors. It
was supposed to be fast passing away, and he found the
little one with a lighted candle in its hand, held there by
the mother. What could be the meaning of this ? From
a letter written to Sir Thomas Chaloner in the latter half
of the sixteenth century, and quoted in Walbran's " Visitors'
Guide to Redear," after describing the song of the dead
man's journey, as given in Aubrey, the writer adds : — " An
other practice of theirs is more redyculous than the
former, for when any maydes take the pottes off the fyer
in great haste, she settes yt down, and without feare of
burnings clappes her handes on the pot hookes to stay
them from shakinge ; and this she doth for tender heart
1 Notes and Queries, Dec. 16, 1871.
POPULAR SUPERSTITIONS. 309
believinge that our lady wepeth, or greelith, as they term
yt all the while the pot hookes waggle, which were a
lamentable case."
Of course there is any amount of folklore about
witches, and I here give the following, which appeared in
the Gentleman's Magazine in 1759 : —
" One Susanah Hannokes, an elderly woman of Win-
grove, near Aylesbury, was accused by her neighbour of
bewitching her spinning wheel, so that she could not
make it go round, and offered to make oath of it before a
magistrate; on which the husband, to justify his wife, in-
sisted upon her being tried by the church Bible, and that
the accuser should be present. Accordingly she was con-
ducted to the parish church, where she was stripped of all
her cloathes to her shift and undercoat, and weighed
against the Bible ; when, to the no small mortification of
her accuser, she outweighed it, and was honourably ac-
quitted of the charge."
Mr. S. J. Wills, from whom I have received many inter-
esting and valuable notes relative to Cornish customs, has
told me about a certain Mr. Jago, an eccentric clergyman,
who was vicar of Wendron, in the latter part of the last
century. This gentleman was supposed to exercise super-
natural power, and the various stories related of him were
firmly believed by the simple country folk. He was
credited with the questionable art of laying spirits ; dis-
covering thieves by magic, etc. It is said that when he
alighted from his horse he would strike the ground with a
whip, and a demon would instantly appear to take charge
of the animal until he should want it again. Numerous
stories are even yet circulated respecting his exploits.
In the August number of the Newbery House Magazine
3IO CHURCH FOLKLORE.
1891, the Rev. H. J. Wilmot Buxton gave a few "Stray
Notes from North Devon " bearing upon popular supersti-
tions in that part of the country. He tells us that if the
church clock strikes during the singing of a hymn in the
service, it is believed that some one will die in the parish
within the week, and that the same result will follow if
the congregations of the Church, and of the dissenting
place of worship meet outside. Once, he says, when an
aged woman lingered long in dying, another old woman of
the parish gravely assured the nurse that the spirit of the
dying person could never go as long as the window was
closed. I have already mentioned this idea. Belief in
witches, ghosts, and evil spirits is not altogether extinct,
though probably from fear of exciting ridicule is seldom
openly spoken of. Still neighbours occasionally fall out
because some old woman credited with the " evil eye " has
•' overlooked " them, or perhaps has done the same un-
neighbourly thing towards the cherished " peg," as they
pronounce the word pig. There are persons still extant
who add to their qualifications that of being " white
witches," to whom the " overlooked " one goes for help and
advice. It was at Bideford that the last execution for
witchcraft in England took place in 1682. " Tilling,'' i.e.
sowing parsley, is a task which a man undertakes very
unwillingly ; it is notoriously an unlucky thing to do, and
so he somewhat selfishly leaves it to his " missus." Some
people dislike to have those fair spring blooms the daffodils,
or Lent lilies, in their houses, and carefully exterminate all
luckless kittens born in May, or they will, if preserved,
bring snakes indoors.
There are folks on Dartmoor who firmly believe in being
" pixie-led." Without doubt there is a strong tincture of
superstition in the nature of west country people. In
a parish well known to the writer a man was annoyed by
mysterious noises in his chimney night after night, and he
POPULAR SUPERSTITIONS. 311
became so frightened that he sent for the parson to ex-
orcise the evil spirit ; but this was effectually done by a
neighbour who set a trap, and caught a poor harmless owl
whose snorings and hissings had troubled the uneasy con-
science of the cottager.
APPENDIX I.
The Public Church Services performed in London at the
beginning of the Eighteenth Century; as given in
Paterson's " Pietas Londinensis."
Aylesbury Chapel, St. John's Close — Wednesdays and
holy days at 10 a.m.
Alban, St., Wood Street and St. Olive, Cripplegate —
Wednesdays, Fridays, and holydays at 11 a.m.
All Saints, or Allhallows, Barking, Tower Street — Daily
at 8 am. and 7 p.m. Holy Communion every Sunday at
12.
All Saints, or Allhallows, Bread Street, and St. John the
Evangelist — Wednesdays and Fridays in Lent, all holydays
at 11 a.m.
All Saints, or Allhallows the Great and the Less, Thames
Street — Wednesdays, Fridays, holydays, and public days
at 11 a.m.
All Saints, or Allhallows, Lombard Street — Wednesdays,
Fridays, and holydays at 11 a.m.
All Saints, or Allhallows, London Wall — Wednesdays,
Fridays, and holydays at 11 a.m.
All Saints, or Allhallows, Staining Lane — Wednesdays,
Fridays, and holydays at 11 a.m.
Alphage, St., Cripplegate — Wednesdays, Fridays, holy-
days, and public days at 11 a.m.
Andrews, St., Holborn — Daily ; Summer, 6 ; Winter, 7 and
312
APPENDIX I. 313
11 a.m., and 3 p.m. Holy Communion every Sunday at 12,
and several occasions. Easter Day, 7 a.m. and 12.
Andrew, St., Undershaft, or St. Mary at Axe — Daily;
Summer, 6 ; Winter, 7 and 11 a.m., and 6 p.m.
Andrew, St., Wardrobe, and St. Anne's, Blackfriars —
Wednesdays, Fridays, all holy and public days at 11 a.m.
Anne and Agnes, Sts. — Wednesdays, Fridays, all holy and
public days at 11 a.m. Holy Communion three last Sundays
in the month.
Anne, St., Soho — Daily : Summer, 6 ; Winter, 7 and 11
a.m., and 4 and 6 p.m. Holy Communion, first and third
Sundays, and Good Friday at 12 ; Christmas, Easter,
Whitsunday at 7 a.m. and 12.
Anthony or Antholine, St., Watling Street, and St. John
Baptist — Daily ; Summer, 6 ; Winter, 7 a.m.
Augustine or Austin, St., Old Change — Wednesday,
Friday, holy and public days at 11 a.m.
Bartholemew, St., the Great — Daily in the last week in
the month at 11 a.m. and 5 p.m.
Bartholemew, St., the Less — Daily at 11 a.m.
Bartholemew, St., the Little, near the Royal Exchange —
Wednesdays, Fridays, holydays, and public days at 11 a.m.,
and daily, 6 p.m.
Berwick Street Chapel, Soho — Daily at 11 a.m. and 5
p.m.
Benedict, St., or St. Bennet Fink, Threadneedle Street —
Wednesdays, Fridays, and holydays at 11 a.m.
Benedict or Bennet, St., Gracechurch Street — Wednes-
days, Fridays, all holy and public days at 11 a.m.
Benedict or Bennet, St., and St. Peter, Paul's Wharf —
Wednesdays, Fridays, and all holy and public days at 11
a.m. ; Evening only on holydays and Saturdays at 3.
Bloomsbury Chapel — Daily at 11 a.m. and 3 p.m. Holy
Communion on the third Sunday in the month.
Botolpb, St., Aldersgate — Daily at 11 a.m. and 3 p.m.
3H CHURCH FOLKLORE.
Botolph, St., Aldgate— Daily at 11 a.m. ; Summer, 7 ;
Winter, 8 p.m. ; Wednesday Evening always at 6.
Botolph, St., Bishopsgate — Daily at 11 a.m. and 7 p.m.
Bridget or Brides, St., Fleet Street — Daily at 11 a.m. and
8 p.m.
Bridewell Chapel— Holy Communion on the third Sunday
in the month.
Charterhouse Chapel — Daily at 11 a.m. ; Summer, 5 ;
Winter, 2 p.m.
Christ Church, Newgate Street, and St. Leonards, Foster
Lane — Daily at 11 a.m. ; Summer, 5 ; Winter, 3 p.m.
Christ Church, Surrey — Wednesdays, Fridays, and holy-
days at 11 a.m.
Christopher, St., Threadneedle Street — Daily at 6 a.m. and
6 p.m.
Clement Danes, St., Strand — Daily at 11 a.m., and 3 and
8 p.m. ; Sundays, 3 and 7 p.m. Holy Communion every
Sunday, besides other times.
Clement, St., St. Clement's Lane, City — Wednesdays,
Fridays, and holydays at 11 a.m.
Dionyse, or Dionis, or Dionis Back Church, or St. Den-
nis, or Dionysius the Areopagite — Daily ; Summer, 8 ;
Winter, 9 a.m. and 5 p.m.
Drapers' Almshouse Chapel, St. George's Fields — Daily ;
Summer, 8 ; Winter, 9 a.m.
N.B. — The Liturgy is not used in this chapel, but a form
of prayer, because the foundation will not support a chap-
lain. The inhabitants attend the Mother Church on Sun-
days, and at some other times. There is another chapel at
Newington Butts belonging to an almshouse built by the
same founder, Mr. John Walter, citizen and draper.
Duke Street Chapel, St. James' Park — Daily at 11 a.m. and
4 p.m. Holy Communion every Sunday and holyday.
APPENDIX I. 315
Dunstan, St., in the East — Wednesdays, Fridays, and
holydays at 11 a.m.
Dunstan, St., Stepney —Daily at 11 a.m.; Summer, 6;
Winter, 3 p.m. Holy Communion first and second Sundays
in the month.
Dunstan's, St., in the West — Daily at 7 a.m. and 3 p,m. ;
•on Wednesdays, Fridays, holy and public days again at 11
a.m. Holy Communion every Sunday and holyday at 12 ;
every day for a week after Christmas, Easter, and Whit-
sunday at 8 after morning prayers.
Edmund, St., the King and Martyr, Lombard Street —
Daily at 11 a.m. and 7 p.m.
Ely House Chapel (if the Bishop is resident) — Daily at
■8 a.m. and 4 p.m. On Sundays, holy, and public days again
at 11 a.m.
Ethelburga or Ethelburgh, St., Bishopsgate Street —
Wednesdays, Fridays, and holydays at 11 a.m.
Fleet Chapel — Daily at 11 a.m. and 3 p.m. ; but on Sun-
days and holydays at 10 a.m. Holy Communion, besides
the usual times, before Michaelmas Term.
George, St., Bloomsbury — Daily at 11 a.m. and 4 p.m.
Holy Communion every Sunday, Good Friday, New Year's
Day, and other solemn days.
George, St., Botolph Lane — Wednesdays, Fridays, and
holydays at 11 a.m.
George, St., the Martyr, Southwark — Wednesdays, Fridays,
holy and public days at 10 a.m.
Giles', St., Cripplegate — On Litany and holydays at 11
.a.m. and 8 p.m.
Giles', St., in the Fields — Daily at 10 a.m. and 3 p.m.
Holy Communion first and second Sundays in the month
-after prayers at 7, and some other occasions.
Gray Coat Hospital Chapel, Westminster — Daily at 7
.a.m. and 6 p.m.
Gray's Inn Chapel — Daily at 11 a.m. ; Summer, 5; Winter,
3t6 CHURCH FOLKLORE.
3 p.m. Holy Communion twice a term, besides Christmas,
Easter, and Whitsuntide.
Helen, St., the Great, Bishopsgate Street— Wednesdays,
Fridays, and holydays at 11 a.m.
Hog Lane Chapel, Monmouth Street — Daily at 11 a.m.
Horse Guards Chapel — Daily at 11 a.m.
Hoxton Hospital Chapel — Daily at 11 a.m. ; Summer, 5 ;
Winter, 3 p.m. Holy Communion last Sunday in the
month, and other solemn occasions.
James, St., Clerkenwell — Daily at 11 a.m. ; Saturday
only at 2 p.m.
James, St., Chapel, or Chapel Koyal — Daily at 8 and 11
a.m., and 5 p.m.
N.B. — During her Majesty's absence only at 11 a.m. and
5 p.m. Holy Communion twice every Sunday when the
Queen is resident, otherwise, once.
James, St., in Duke's Place, Aldgate — Wednesdays, Fri-
days, and holydays at 11. Holy Communion, second Sun-
day in the month.
James, St, Thames Street — Wednesdays, Fridays, and
holydays at 11 a.m.
James, St., Westminster — Daily ; Summer, 6 ; Winter, 7
and 11 a.m., and 3 and 6 p.m. Holy Communion, second Sun-
day in the month ; every Sunday from Palm Sunday to
Trinity Sunday, New Year's Day, and other great days,
twice.
John, St., of Jerusalem, Hackney- — Wednesdays, Fridays,
and holydays, at 11 a.m.
John, St., Wapping — Daily ; Summer, 8 ; Winter, 9 a.m.
Summer, 5 ; Winter, 3 p.m.
Islington Almshouse Chapel — Daily at 11 a.m. and 4 p.m.
Katharine, St., Coleman — Wednesdays, Fridays, and holy-
days at 11 a.m.
APPENDIX I. 317
Katharine, St., Cree — Wednesdays, Fridays, and holy-
days, at 10 a.m. On Saturdays, Summer, 4; Winter, 3
p.m.
Katharine, St., by the Tower — Daily, at 11 a.m.
King Street Chapel, St. James' — Daily ; Summer, 6 ;
Winter, 7 and 11 a.m., and 3 and 6 p.m. Holy Communion
last Sunday in the month.
Lambeth Chapel — Daily ; Summer, 7 ; Winter, 8 and 12
a.m., and 2 and 9 p.m.
Lamb's Chapel, Hart Street, Cripplegate — Wednesdays
and Fridays at 8 a.m. Holy Communion never admin-
istered.
Laurence, St., Jewry — Daily at 6 a.m. and 8 p.m. On
Mondays, Wednesdays, Thursdays, and Saturdays again at
11 a.m. On Thursday evening again, at 3 p.m. Holy
Communion every Sunday at 8, except the first, then at 12.
Leonard, St., Shoreditch — Wednesdays, Fridays, holy, and
state days at 11 a.m.
Lincoln Inn Chapel — Daily at 11 a.m. and 5 p.m. Holy
Communion, Christmas, Easter, second Sunday in Septem-
ber, and first and last Sunday of every term.
London Workhouse Chapel, Bishopsgate Street — Daily
at 6 a.m. and 6 p.m.
Ludgate Prison Chapel — Daily at 10 a.m. N.B. — Six-
pence allowed each time. The most prudent layman reads
if no clergyman is in prison.
Magnus, St., London Bridge — Daily at 11 a.m. and 8 p.m.
Margaret, St., Lothbury — Wednesdays, Fridays, and holy-
days at 11 a.m.
Margaret, St., Pattens — Wednesdays, Fridays, and holy-
days at 11 a.m.
Margaret, St., Westminster — Fridays, holy and state days
at 10 a.m. ; but daily, Summer, 6 ; Winter, 7 p.m.
Marshalsea, Chapel of — Wednesdays and Saturdays at
3 p.m.
318 CHURCH FOLKLORE.
Martin, St.— Daily ; Summer, C ; Winter, 7 a.m. and 5
p.m. ; on Wednesdays, Fridays, and holydays again at 10
a.m. and 3 p.m. Holy Communion, first Sunday, Christmas
Day, Easter, and Whitsunday, twice ; but the rest of the
Sundays, New Year's Day, Good Friday, and Ascension
Day, once.
Martin, St., Ludgate — Daily at 11 a.m. and 6 p.m.
Martin, St., Dutewitch, or Otterwick — Wednesdays, Fri-
days, and holydays at 11 a.m.
Mary, St., Abchurch — Wednesdays, Fridays, and holy-
days at 11 a.m. Holydays and on Saturdays at 4 p.m.
Mary, St., Alder manbury — Wednesdays, Fridays, and
holydays at 11 a.m.
Mary, St., Aldermary— Wednesdays, Fridays, and holy-
days at 11 a.m.
Mary, St., le Bow — Daily at 8 a.m. and 5 p.m. Holy
Communion every holy day at 8 a.m.
Mary, St., at Hill — Wednesdays, Fridays, and holydays
at 11 a.m., and on Saturdays and holydays at 3 p.m.
Mary, St., Islington — Wednesdays, Fridays, and holydays
at 11 a.m., and on Saturdays and holydays at 3 p.m.
Mary, St., Lambeth — Wednesdays, Fridays, and holydays
at half-past 10 a.m. ; Saturday at 3 p.m. ; everyday in
Lent at 11 a.m. Holy Communion, Ash Wednesday, Good
Friday, and other solemnities, besides the regular.
Mary Magdalene, St., Bermondsey — Daily at 11 a.m.
Holy Communion twice on all holydays which fall on the
1st Sunday, and Christmas Day, Easter Day, and Whitsun-
day.
Mary Magdalene, St., Old Fish Street— Wednesdays, Fri-
days, and holydays at 11 a.m. ; and on Saturdays in Lent
at 3 p.m.
Mary, St., Newington Butts — Wednesdays, Fridays, and
holy and public days at 11 a.m.
Mary, St., Rotherhithe — Wednesdays, Fridays, and holy-
APPENDIX I. 319
days, and Saturdays before Communion at 11 a.m. Holy
Communion, second Sunday.
Mary, St., le Savoy — Daily ; Summer, 7 ; Winter, 8 a.m.
and 5 p.m. On Wednesdays, Fridays, and holydays again
at 10 a.m. Holy Communion on 1st Sunday twice, 7 and
12.
Mary, St., Somerset — Holy and public days at 11
a.m.
Mary, St., Whitecbapel — Wednesdays, Fridays, holy and
public days at 11 a.m. ; Saturdays at 3 p.m. ; Holy Com-
munion every Sunday, all holydays, Monday and Tuesday
in Easter Week, Easter Day, Whitsunday, Good Friday,.
Christmas day, and Ash Wednesday.
Mary, St., Woolnoth — Daily at 11 a.m. and 5 p.m.
Matthew, St., Friday Street — Wednesdays, Fridays, holy
and public days at 10 a.m. Holy Communion 1st Sunday
twice; on all holydays at 10.
Michael, St., Basinghall — Wednesdays, Fridays, holy and
public days at 11 a.m. ; daily at 5 p.m.
Michael, St., Cornhill— Wednesdays, Fridays, holy and
public days at 11 a.m.
Michael, St., Crooked Lane — Wednesdays, Fridays, and
holy and public days at 11 a.m.
Michael, St. Queenhithe — -Wednesdays, Fridays, holy and
public days at 11 a.m. Daily at 6 p.m.
Michael, St., Royal — Wednesdays and Saturdays at 11
a.m. and 3 p.m.
Michael, St., Wood Street — Wednesdays, Fridays, and
holydays at 11 a.m.
Mildred, St., Bread Street — Wednesdays, Fridays, and
holydays at 11 a.m.
Mildred, St., Poultry — Wednesdays, Fridays, and holy-
days at 11 a.m.
New Chapel, Westminster — Daily at 9 a.m., and 3, 4,
and 5 p.m., as the days lengthen.
320 CHURCH FOLKLORE,
Newgate Chapel — Wednesdays, Fridays, and holydays
at 10 a.m. During the eight sessions daily, at 10 a.m. and
3 p.m.
Nicholas, St., Col eabby— "Wednesdays, Fridays, holy and
state days at 11 a.m.
Olave, St., Hart Street— Wednesdays, Fridays, and holy
and state days at 11 a.m. Sundays in Lent at 3
p.m.
Olave, St., Jewry — Holy and public days, and on Wednes-
day and Friday, from October to May, at 11 a.m.
Olave, St., Southwark — Wednesday, Friday, and holy
and public days at 11 a.m. Saturdays at 3 p.m.
Oxenden Chapel, Haymarket — Daily at 10 a.m. No
Communion.
Palmer's, Mrs., Chapel — Daily at 11 a.m.
Paul's, St., Cathedral — Daily ; Summer, 6 ; Winter, 7
and 11 a.m., and 3 p.m. Holy Communion every
Sunday.
Paul's, St., Covent Garden — Daily ; Summer, 6 ; Winter,
7 and 10 a.m., and 3 and 6 p.m. Holy Communion, 1st and
3rd Sundays in the month, and other occasions.
Paul's, St., Shadwell — Daily at 11 a.m. ; Summer, 5,
Winter, 3 p.m.
Pest House Chapel — Daily at 11 a.m. and 3 p.m.
Peter, St., Cornhill — Daily at 11 a.m. and 4 p.m. Holy
Communion every Sunday.
Peter, St., Chapel, St. Peter's Hospital — Wednesdays,
Fridays, and holydays.
N.B. — The keeper of the hospital reads till means can be
provided to support a minister.
Peter, St., Poor, Broad Street — Wednesdays, Fridays, and
holydays at 11 a.m.
APPENDIX I. 321
Peter, St., in the Tower — Wednesdays, Fridays, and holy-
days at 11 a.m.
Peter, St., alias Westminster Abbey — Daily at Summer,
6 ; Winter, 7 and 10 a.m., and 3 p.m.
Poplar Chapel — Wednesdays, Fridays, and Saturdays at
11 a.m. Holy Communion third Sunday at 1 p.m.
Prison of Queen's Bench Chapel — Daily at 7 p.m.
Queen Square Chapel, Westminster— Daily at 11 a.m.,
and 4 p.m. in Winter ; only on Wednesdays, Fridays, and
holydays in the Summer ; but evenings always.
Queen Street Great Chapel — Daily at 11 a.m. and 4 p.m-
Holy Communion last Sunday in the month.
Rolls Chapel— Holydays at 10 a.m. and 3 p.m. Holy
Communion seven times a year.
Saviour, St., or St. Mary Overie, Southwark— Wednes-
days, Fridays, holy and public days at 11 a.m.
Sepulchre, St., Snow Hill — Daily Summer, 6 ; Winter,
7 a.m.; and Summer, 3 ; Winter, 4 p.m. On Wednesdays,
Fridays, holy and public days again at 11 a.m. Holy
Communion first Sunday, and every Sunday from Easter
to Trinity.
Skinner's Alms House Chapel, Mile End — Daily at
11 a.m.
Somerset House Chapel — Daily at 11 a.m. and 4 p.m.
Holy Communion third Sunday in the month.
Stephen, St., Coleman Street — Daily at 11 a.m. Holy
Communion every Sunday.
Stephen, St. Walbrook — Daily at 11 a.m., and on Satur-
days in Lent 4 p.m.
Stratford-le-Bow — Wednesdays, Fridays, holy and state
days at 11 a.m.
Swithene, St., Cannon Street — Daily at 11 a.m. and
5 p.m.
Temple Church — Daily at 7, or 8, or 9 a.m. and 4>
p.m.
322
CHURCH FOLKLORE.
Thomas, St., Soufchwark — Wednesdays, Fridays, and
holydays at 11 a.m. Holy Communion, second Sun-
day.
Thomas, St., Hospital Chapel— Daily at 3 p.m.
Trinity Chapel, Bond Street— Daily at 11 a.m. and
S p.m. Holy Communion third Sunday.
Trinity in the Little Minories— Holy and public days,
and in Lent on Wednesdays and Fridays at 11 a.m.
Vedast, or St. Foster — Wednesdays, Fridays, and holy-
days at 11 a.m. Evening daily at 6 p.m.
Vintner's Alms-houses Chapel — Wednesdays, Fridays,
holy and public days at 11 a.m.
Whitehall Chapel — Daily at 11 a.m. and 5 p.m. Holy
Communion privately every Sunday, but publicly on the
first Sunday.
It is well that the foregoing list should be compared with
a record of " Daily Prayers in and about the City (1683),"
quoted from a book of that date in No. 84 of the Tracts
for the Times, by the Rev. Thomas Keble.
King's Chapel
Duke's Chapel
Westminster Abbey
Ely House
Temple
Lincoln's Inn
Gray's Inn
St. James', Clerken-
well
Charter House
M.
E. !
]
6
and
4
10
8
4
10
11
4
St. Christopher's
St. Martin's
Tabernacle
St. Paul's, CoventGarden
St. Martin's, Ludgate
St. Diony's, Backchurch
St. Andrew, Undershaft
St. Antholin's )
St. Sepulchre's \
St. Mary, Woolnoth
M.
E.
6
6
6
5
9
3
10
3
9
3
8
5
—
6
—
6
11
—
APPENDIX I. 323
Those who are interested in this question of Daily-
Services in London churches, and would care to institute a
comparison between the list given in " Pietas Londinensis,"
and the record which they will find in a book entitled
" London Parishes," an account of the churches, vicars,
vestries, etc., published in 1824, are advised to consult that
volume.
APPENDIX II.
ODD CHRISTIAN NAMES.
In the year 1892 there appeared in the columns of the
Standard newspaper a correspondence on the subject of
odd Christian names, and the examples given are, in many
instances, so extraordinary that they are well worth
putting on record in a more permanent manner than would
be the case if they were allowed to remain buried in a file
of a daily paper. The fact that in most cases the corre-
spondent gives his name and address, and his authoritj' for
the statements which he makes, renders the information
afforded by the several writers all the more valuable. The
examples of out-of-the-way Christian names which have
from time to time been given to infants at the font would
seem to form no unimportant item in Church Folklore, and
I believe that such a list as that below is quite unique.
To begin with a letter from the Rev. A. L. Foulkes,
Vicar of Steventon, Berkshire, dated April 4, 1892. Re-
ferring to his parish registers, he says, that during the last
five years or so, there has been a revival of floral names,
which he attributes to the increased pains which have been
taken in the church decorations at Easter and Whitsuntide.
The vicar says : — ■
'' I have baptised since April, 1887, three ' Violets,' one
' Lily Rose,' one ' Vera Rose ' (a unique beauty of a name),
two 'Lilys,' one ' May,' one 'Ivy,' one ' Daisy ' ; and in 1886
I notice three ' Roses,' and we have two ' Daisys ' and three
3 2 4
APPENDIX II. 325
' Mays ' besides in our Sunday school. And, looking back
over two or three decades in the register, I find plenty of
Scriptural names. You may see the names : Jabez, Eber,
Shadrach, Jeremiah, Noah, Moses, Elijah, Eli, Israel, Peter,
Enoch, Levi, Caleb, Daniel, more than once since 1845, and
many Jesses and Josephs, and last, but not least Biblical,
Andrew Zacharias, and one whose parents must have
thought of the ' lost tribes ' in the Hanoverian days —
George Gad.
" Amongst females, I find Grace, Patience, Ada, Thyrza,
Mercy, Sebia (feminine of Seba), Constance, Christiana,
Naomi. We have such names as Ambrose, Irene, Selina,
Cyril, Inkerman, and Alma, during the same period.
Speaking of Scriptural names, I knew a clergyman who
refused to baptise in the mysterious name Melchisedek, but
if I searched I might find even that. It is certainly to be
noted that floral names have much increased in this parish
during the last few years."
A gentleman writing from East Dereham, Norfolk, states
that : — " In this town there is an innkeeper who rejoices in
the baptismal name of ' Mahershalalhashbaz ' (see Isaiah
viii. 1). I should think this is unique. He is commonly
called ' Maher,' but in the parochial and other lists the
full name appears.
" Report says (but I will not vouch for its truth) that
his father wished him to be named ' Uz,' but on the clergy-
man remonstrating he immediately said, ' Then we will
have the other,' and produced from his pocket a slip of
paper with the longer name."
As to Scriptural names, it would, I think, be difficult to
find another instance of a man who had been christened
" Prophet Elijah " (Jaggard), yet Mr. F. N. Gray, writing
from the Orlean's Club, Brighton, states that one of General
326 CHURCH FOLKLORE.
Hall's gamekeepers at Six Mile Bottom was so named, and
he was commonly addressed as " Prop. Jaggard " for short.
The following is odd enough. " A vicar " writes : — " A
few weeks ago, at the baptism of a baby, the names ' Azile -
Pauline ' were given me. Not knowing or recognising the
first name, I asked that it might be spelt. Not being much
enlightened, but imagining it might be some French name
to go with the second, which was pronounced with the
French accent, I baptised the baby with those names. On
asking the mother after the service where she had got the
name from, she replied, ' Neither my husband nor myself
likes the name Eliza, so we thought we would spell it
backwards ! ' "
Here, again, is one quite as odd in its way. The Rev.
A. P. Wharton, Eector of Barham, tells us that " a person
named Day christened a daughter ' Ann Easter Day,' and
another, only two or three years ago, ' Constance Kent ' —
Smith, we will say. Although I reminded the parents
that this was the name of a convicted murderer, it caused
no change. Indeed, I believe it was the reason for its
choice. Certainly there is no accounting for tastes, especi-
ally in names."
There is something very touching in a baptismal name
recorded by Mr. J. M. Cowper, who, with reference to the
name " Ann ^Easter Day,'' states that, " At Kingsdown in
Kent, on December 28, 1581, or 1582, was baptised
' Inocent Day, the base borne sone of on (one) Day.'
Before the year 1801 Easter is common as a variant of
Esther."
He gives another curious note as to the non-use in past
time of the name "Alfred" in Kent — "I have searched,"
APPENDIX II. 327
he says, "many parish registers, dating from 1538 to 1800,
and over twelve thousand marriage allegations, extending
from 1568 to 1635, and have never found an Alfred, unless
I may consider Alured (Alured Denne) as the exception,
but this is the Latin form shortened."
Without explanation the following name would puzzle
most people. I must take it for granted that it was a
baptismal name, or rather the debased form of it. Dr.
W. M. Young, dating from the Suffolk County Asylum,
writes as follows : — " Some time ago a woman was ad-
mitted into this asylum, duly certified under the name of
' Protezay M .' I was so puzzled by the apparen tly
cabalistic character of the Christian name, that I made
inquiry of the friends who accompanied her as to its
origin, and, in reply, they unfolded a strange, eventful
history. During infancy she had been deserted by her
mother, and had been found on the roadside by a man
named M , who took her to his home and adopted her
as his own. By way of ' a conceit which is pretty to see '
(as Mr. Pepys would have said), this man ever afterwards
spoke of her as his protegee. M 's orthography, how-
ever, was not on the same elevated plane as his etymology
■ — hence ' Protezay.' "
As in the case of " Cunazoa," already mentioned in the
text, there is no reason to doubt as to the infant being
baptised " Prote"ge'e."
Equally puzzling is a name mentioned by a gentleman
writing from Castle Acre, Norfolk, as having been given to
a child in that parish, in years not very long past. F. G.
If. tells us that — " A child (a girl) was brought for baptism
to my grandfather. When asked the name, the parent, to
his surprise, replied, ' Emdiella.' ' There is no such name,'
said my grandfather. ' Oh, yes, sir, there is ; we saw it in
.328 CHURCH FOLKLORE.
a book,' replied the woman. My grandfather at the time
did not like to inquire further, but it turned out that she
had found in an old grammar the four liquid letters,
L.M.N.E., and had confused them into M.D.L.R. The child
was, however, christened ' Emdiella.' "
The following example is a riddle indeed, and I must
leave Mr. J. T. Squire of Keresford, Brunswick Road,
Kingston Hill, who has given it to us, to interpret it him-
self. He states that, '' In the parish registers of Wands-
worth occurs the following entry of baptism: — '1689,
October 28. Mickipheralphry, son of James Dandy, clerk,
and Anne, his wife.' This peculiar name was brought
under the notice of the members of the Surrey Archeeo-
logical Society, who visited the church in 1889, but no
explanation of it could then be given. By a mere acci-
dent a solution, and satisfactory evidence of the correctness
of it, was obtained under circumstances the relation of
which would occupy too much of your space.
" It is a compound of the names Mickipher (a corruption
of Nicephorus) and Alphery, which pertained to one who
was the heir to the throne of Russia, but who was sent to
this country to escape assassination, and who became rector
at Woolley, in Huntingdonshire, and was ejected at the
Revolution. One of his sons resided at Hammersmith, and
another followed the occupation of a smith at Wandsworth,
and had a son, Mitchafer, baptised there on the 18th of
August, 1661. The registers down to 1787 were tran-
scribed by me and printed in 1889."
'' Venus " is not exactly what one would choose for a
Christian name, yet it is not unknown. Thus a gentleman
who, I am sorry to say, only gives his initials, Gr. M. T,
writes: — "In a country parish, of which my father was
rector some twenty-five years ago, there was a child who
APPENDIX II. 329
rejoiced in the name of ' Venus.' I heard that when she
was baptised the officiating clergyman remonstrated with
the parents, on the ground that Venus was not a Christian
name, but that of a heathen goddess. He was somewhat
nonplussed, however, when reminded that the squire's wife
was named Diana !
" In the same village two sisters (twins) were called
Tryphena and Tryphosa, and Scriptural names had a de-
cided preference — fully half the population were possessed
of them. But in these times the taste for ' Ethel,' ' Percy,'
■and the like, has penetrated even to that remote quarter."
As regards this name of " Venus " a gentleman (J. E. C.)
writes to say that, " In a Devonshire village church, some
years ago, a male infant was presented for baptism, the
sponsors naming it ' Vanus.' The clergyman protested
that Venus was a heathen lady of doubtful reputation, and
he refused to baptise the baby with such a name.
" ' How could you think of such a name ? ' he asked.
" Well, zur, us wants to earn (call) him after his grand-
vather, and hers a called Vanus.' Subsequent investigation
showed that the old man's name was Sylvanus, but all his
life he had never been called anything but Vanus."
He adds that, "The village schoolmistress of a generation
back, who had the honour of increasing the family of
Smith by sixteen, determined that all her children should
have the initials ' S. S.' Perhaps, when she took this re-
solution she hardly imagined she would have fifteen girls
•and one boy to provide names for. However, she managed
to carry out her idea successfully. I cannot at this
moment recall all the ' S's,' but her eldest was Sarah and
the youngest Sabina."
Akin to this, a clergyman, who also unfortunately does
330 CHURCH FOLKLORE.
not give his name, writes as follows : — " My curate had to-
baptise twin sons of the surname of Otway ; the first was
called "Orace 'Oratio,' and the other "Oratio 'Orace.' I
knew a family whose surname began with H., and all the,
fourteen children were to have three initial H.'s — so they
included a ' Hagatha ' and a ' Horizontal.' "
If any skilled antiquary were to spend a few days in
searching the church books at Shoreditch, a number of
curious facts might be discovered. The Rev. Frederick
Cox, the vicar of St. Philip, Dalston, and who was formerly
senior curate of Shoreditch parish church, gives some note-
worthy examples of odd names which appear in the
baptismal register there. He says : — " To give a few in-
stances, Miss 'Juliet ' Burbage was baptised in 1608, in all
probability the daughter of the great theatrical celebrity of
that time. In the same year ' Desdemona ' Bishop was
admitted within the fold of the Church ; in 1591, 'Troilus'
Skinner and ' Coriolanus ' Hawke. In 1563, we find
' Evangelist ' Hamerbon ; and in 1704, three children were
named ' Faith, Hope, and Charity.' In the year 1589, we
find Shakespeare's name associated with Burbage as one of
the shareholders of the Blackfriars Theatre."
The Rev. Turberville Evans, Vicar of Buckland, Dover,,
and son of the late Vicar of Shoreditch, describes how, " As
children we were often in Shoreditch vestry in my father's
day. Our great delight was to turn to an entry in the
baptismal register. It ran thus — 'Adelaide Louisa Theresa
Thirza Amelia Maria Hughes.' Perhaps my friend Mr.
Cox can supply the date. Can anyone interpret ' Mingaye
Syder,' which occurs as a Christian name in our registers?""
We are indebted to Mr. John Hawkins, 22 Parliament
Street, Westminster for the following item on baptismal
APPENDIX II. 331
folklore : — " The negro, in keeping with a strong passion
for ' loud ' and flashy colours, is strangely enamoured of
fine names. As an instance of this, a relative of mine, a
clergyman in Demerara, was recently called upon to
baptise the daughter of a well-to-do negro, but was
astonished to find that the names selected by the fond
father were ' Seriatim ' ' Ad Valorem.'
"The reverend gentleman took the man to the vestry
and remonstrated with him on the extraordinary appella-
tions he desired to bestow upon his daughter, whereupon,
with great reluctance, he consented to forego these high-
sounding names which so charmed his ear, and eventually
selected 'Drusilla Matilda.' The clergyman being unable
to offer any valid reason against the latter choice, the child
now rejoices in those names."
Let us come back to England, and to English names, but
not too suddenly. Mr. W. J. Humble Crofts, writing from
Waldron, Sussex, tells us that, '' This parish boasts certain
names which are possibly unique — 'Psalms,' for example.
But we have also an ' English ' French, a ' Luther ' Martin,
and ' Philadelphias ' galore, the prevalence of the latter
arising from the fact that Philadelphia happens to be an
old family name of the Hart Dykes, who for centuries
have owned property here, and whose ancestresses stood as
sponsors to the ancestresses of our present generation.
" A neighbouring parish affords a crucial example of the
love of the labouring classes for classical or sesquipedalian
names. One of the villagers had his three children christ-
ened 'Julius Ctesar,' 'Mark Anthony,' and 'Venus Pandora'
respectively."
Dr. Samuel Hague, of Camberwell, records an odd com-
bination of Christian and surnames. In filling up an
official document one day a patient gave him the sur-
332 CHURCH FOLKLORE.
name of " Buxton." On being asked what his Christian
name was, he replied " Truman Hanbury."
Equally odd as a combination is that recorded by Mr.
W. F. Coulson of West Brighton, who states " that at the
Church of St. John the Evangelist, Waterloo Road, S.E.,
early in the present year, a child was christened 'Christmas.'
The parents' surname was ' Carroll.' Christmas Carroll is,
I should think, unique.''
Scriptural names of course are common, but I never be-
fore heard of one mentioned by the Rev. T. Roach, who
says that a few years ago he "published the banns of
marriage of a woman named ' Talitha Cumi ' at St. Mary's,
Ilchester, Somerset. He was told that it was a family
name."
Speaking of Scriptural names, many of us have wondered
whether a child has ever been christened " Kerenhappuch,"
which it will be remembered was the name of one of Job's
daughters. Mr. Owen Davies, a Wesleyan minister at
Blackheath, settles the question, for he tells us that the
wife of his verger bears that name. He further states that
one of the members of his congregation was christened
" Cobden Bright Villiers,'' and that he knew a gentleman
whose three uncles were named respectively " Ulysses
Achilles," " Telemachus Shakespear," and " Copernicus."
The Rev. F. Case, Tudeley Vicarage, Kent, says that " all
the following names occur in our registers. The child who
was so unfortunate as to be named ' Cain ' was born only
fifty-nine years ago. He had a brother named ' Abel.'
Males : — Maher, Lanzil, Josephus, Fane, Covel, Cain, Gurth,
Immanuel John, Mahershalalhashbaz. Females : — Filley,
Vinefrit, Virnfid, Barbary, Valentina, Prince, Agnester,
APPENDIX II. 333
Olife, Julan, Christian, Sibyll, Easter, Brigget, Eunice,
Amer."
A friend tells me that in the church register of
Scampton, Lincolnshire, about the year 1630, an entry
occurs of the baptism of a girl named Linenia. Possibly
flax may have been cultivated in the parish at that date.
It must surely be an uncommon thing to christen girls
with boys' names, yet it is not altogether unknown. The
Gentleman's Magazine of January, 1742, contains, amongst
other announcements, the following : — " Lady of the de-
ceased Alexander Nairn of a posthumous son. Had three
daughters in 1740, christened James Agnes, Charles Amelia,
Henry Margaret, all (in 1742) in good health."
Some odd combinations of Christian surnames have
already been given, but an instance mentioned by Mr. E.
Bruce, of Uckfield, Sussex, is especially remarkable. He
says, " I have seen a good many curious names under the
above heading, but none so curious as that owned by a
child of a woman who was once my nurse. The surname
was Waters, and the mother christened the child (a girl),
Mineral. I believe ' Mineral Waters ' is living, and is now
about seventeen years old."
Unfortunately, an M. R. C. S. does not give the name of
the parish to which he refers, when he says " that in the
churchyard of the place where I first saw the light a tomb-
stone announces the fact of the death of twins named
'Punch' and 'Judy.'"
The Vicar of Glossop notes that, " During the year 1887,
I baptised a child at St. Mary's Church, Widnes, to whom
334 CHURCH FOLKLORE.
the name Jubilata was given, because she was born in the
year of the Queen's Jubilee."
The Rev. Joseph Hargrove, of St. Matthews, Cam-
bridge, remarks that although " Albert " is common enough,
" Victoria " as a Christian name is almost unknown. He
says, " In an experience of more than twenty years I cannot
remember ever to have baptised a child by that name, or
even to have met with anybody bearing it. Even in the
Jubilee year, when loyalty ruled the thoughts of all, the
name occurs only three times among two hundred and
eight children baptised in this parish (in each case coupled
with another name), and since then it has only appeared
once among seven hundred and twenty- three baptisms.
That the name of so popular a Queen, and of one who has
reigned so long, should never have been able to displace in
popular favour the names of former queens — Elizabeth,
Mary, Anne — has always seemed to me a very remarkable
instance of the tenacity with which the English people
cling to old customs."
We now come to consider instances in which the names
of flowers have been given to children at the font. " It
was my good fortune recently," writes Mr. Philip Bartlett
of Christ Church, Lancaster, " on a railway journey, to
make the acquaintance of a perfect nosegay of children, all
members of one family, and all justifying the sweetness of
the names that had been given them — Daisy, May, Lily,
Violet, and Olive. There had also been a sixth, Pansy, but
she, I was informed, had been transplanted to a better and
brighter garden than any on earth.
" There is, I may mention, a strong prejudice existing in
some minds against naming children after flowers, on the
ground that children so called are supposed, like flowers, to
APPENDIX II. 335
be short lived. I hope my little travelling companions
may, at any rate, belie the superstition.
" In addition to the other ethical names enumerated by
your correspondents, I have baptised a child Repentance,
who has proved one never to be repented of."
The name of the Bishop of Melbourne, Dr. Field Flowers
Goe, will at once suggest itself to church folk in connection
with floral names. In answer to the question, " Could we
not find Myrtle and Rose Mary ? " Mrs. or Miss Mary
Flowers writes from Louth to say, " I have a cousin called
Rose Mary, whose surname is Flowers. Her great-grand-
father's name was Field Flowers."
Writing from Brancaster, Norfolk, Mr. C. G. R. Birch
says, " I have baptised, on April 22, 1888, a ' Myrtle Rose '
— unique, I believe ; also, on February 7 of the present year,
a 'Daisy Rhoda,' and on September 27, 1885, a 'Lilian
May' Indeed, Lilian, May, and Daisy, singly or in con-
junction with something else, are now as common as pos-
sible here."
The following communication brings to light a very out-
of-the-way name. "I have," says H. E. G., "a dear
young friend somewhere in this country who (about eleven
years ago) was christened Erica. ' Only that, and nothing
more.' Her parents, it was rumoured, had plighted their
troth ' Out in the sunshine over the heather.' Perhaps
other instances may be quoted."
On the authority of Mr. A. C. Downer, St. Cuthbert's,
Bedford, I am able to give the following : — " An infant was,
twenty years ago, presented to me for baptism in an
Oxford church, under the name ' Virgo Maria.' The god-
parents were ignorant of the meaning of the words, but
336 CHURCH FOLKLORE.
the mother, on being asked where they had obtained the
name, replied, ' You see, sir, my husband is a gardener, and
there is a geranium named " Virgo Maria," so we thought it
would be a nice name for our little girl.'
" So ' Virgo Maria ' must be added to the list of floral
names. Could we not also find 'Myrtle ' and ' Rose Mary' ?
' Basil ' is a boy's name. What of ' Flora,' goddess of
flowers ? The growing disuse of ' Jane ' is much to be re-
gretted.''
A gentleman who does not give his name writes to say
that he lias a daughter whose names are " Violet Lily Rose."
Another states that in 1887 he baptised the infant daughter
of a Mr. Rose under the name " Violet." But these com-
binations are sometimes risky unless chosen with care, with
a due regard to future possibilities. For instance, a Croydon
correspondent tells us of a Miss Rose who was christened
" Wild." For a time all went well, and " Wild Rose " was
pretty enough, albeit somewhat sentimental. But young
ladies as they grow up are apt to fall in love, and " Wild
Rose" on her marriage changed her name to "Wild Bull."
I gave above an instance of three girls being christened
with boys' names. Mr. H. F. Spencer, writing from Oxford>
says that in a rural parish he remembers a young man who
was called " Rose," his surname being " Cherry." The
writer adds, "Hyacinth is sometimes, and Florence often
given in England to girls, but in Ireland to boys." " Allow
me," he says, "to quote from the 'Parish Register' of Crabbe,
who, though a poet, observed more than he invented : —
" ' ' Why Lonicera wilt thou name thy child ? '
I asked the Gardener's wife, in accents mild :
' We have a right,' replied the sturdy dame ; —
And Lonicera was the infant's name.
If next a son shall yield our Gardener joy,
Then Hyacinthus shall be that fair boy ;
And if a girl, they will at length agree
That Belladonna that fair maid shall be.'
APPENDIX II. 337
Thus much for distinctly baptismal names, but there are
some very odd ones to be found in the official register of
births, which may or may not have been actually used at
baptism. The correspondent who gives the following list
begins by an interesting record of the comparative popu-
larity of ordinary christian names, and he takes the great
family of Smiths. In one quarter's index he finds as
follows : —
" Elizabeth, 69 instances; George, 95; John, 125; Mary,
80 ; Sarah, 41 ; William, 130 ; and of the more modern
names (that is, modern as to fashion), Albert, 61 ; Arthur,
49; Edith, 57; Ethel, 51; Florence, 69; Frederick, 53.
Scripture names occurring are Absalom, Archelaus, Asher,
Enoch, Ephraim, Miriam, Moses, etc. While as to floral
names there are — Daisy, 14; Erica, Iris, Ivy, 4; Lily, 20;
Olive, 6 ; Rose, 13 ; Violet, 9. The writer of your article
suggests that the names of common English flowers are not
well adapted for personal names ; doubtless that is so, and
yet I have met with Hollyhock, Lavender, Dahlia (not in-
frequently), and others of the like.
" Your article does not deal with eccentricity of naming,
which affords a fruitful field for speculation as to the state
of mind of persons who could give their children such names
as, e.g., ' Boadicea ' Basher, ' Ethereal ' Messenger ' Anno
Domini ' Davies, ' Liberal Heneage ' Brown, ' Sardine ' Shaw,
'Ether' Spray, 'Rose Shamrock' Anthistle, 'Smith Follows'
Smith. Surely there should be a society formed to ' prevent
cruelty in naming children.' "
A gentleman writing from the " General Register Office,"
sends the following curious names or combinations of
names (the last name is always the surname) : —
" Morning Dew, Evening Dew, Winter Frost, Merry
Christmas, Flower Apark, Manifold Light, Ruby Gore, Mid-
338 CHURCH FOLKLORE.
summer Frost, Orange Lemmon, Hailstone Pretty, Anglo-
Saxon Joy, River Jordan, Cloud Hill, Happy Ephraim
Jiggins, Happy Riches, Tamer Duck, Jubilee Gosling, John
Hadnot Kiss, Just King, Nappy Igo, Holly Bush, Holley
Bower, Charity Greedy, Offspring Dear, Gilderoy Scamp,
Only Fancy William Brown, Jennyfer Penny, Colonel
Sargeant, Sarah Alley Lunn, Hay Stack Brown, Hay Field,
Noah Flood (a shipwright), Greenwood Woodman, Vernal
Greenwood, Robert Alma Balakclava Inkerman Sebastopol
Delhi Dugdale, and last and longest, Anna Bertha Cecilia
Diana Emily Fanny Gertrude Hypatia Inez Jane Kate
Louisa Maud Nora Ophelia Quince Rebecca Starkey Teresa
Ulysis Venus Winifred Xenophon Yetty Zeus Pepper.
" These are all absolutely faithful copies of authentic
names, without omission or alteration of any kind. The list
could be indefinitely extended, but probably here are
enough."
Here is another list from the records of the same office,
concerning which the writer implies that it would be diffi-
cult to say whether they are to be attributed to the vanity,
the ignorance, or the heartless cruelty of the parents who
fixed upon them. This gentleman says : —
" I will give the years in which they have been met with,
and I find, to make a start, a girl registered in 1847, 'Is it
Maria;' 1853, ' Napoleon the Great ; ' 1857, 'Robert Alma
Balakclava Inkerman Sebastopol Delhi;' 1860, 'Arthur
Wellesley Wellington Waterloo;' 1861, 'Not Wanted James;'
1863, ' Jerome Napoleon Edward Henry John ' (this an ille-
gitimate child born in a workhouse) ; 1865, ' Edward Byng
Tallyho Forward ; ' 1870, ' One Too Many ; ' 1877, ' Peter the
Great,' and ' William the Conqueror,' twins ; 1883, ' Richard
Coeur de Lion Tyler Walter ; ' 1886, 'That's it who'd have
thought it ; ' 1887, ' Laughing Waters.'
APPENDIX II. 339
" Some remarkable single names are to be met with, such
as ' Righteous,' ' Comfort,' ' Happy,' ' Electro,' ' Hopeful,'
' Redemption,' ' Meditation,' ' Obedience,' and ' Alphabet.'
Twins, ' Love ' and ' Unity,' are to be found, and besides
' Faith,' ' Hope,' and ' Charity ' as triplets, there are ' Sha-
drach,' ' Meshach,' and ' Abednego,' boys, and two boys and
a girl, ' Alpha,' ' Beatrice,' and ' Omega.' "
When I add that one of the latest combinations in this
list is " Gladiolus Azalea," and that many children born of
late years on April 19, have been named " Primrose," I have
exhausted my stock of information, which I venture to
think is curious enough to justify me in putting it upon
more or less permanent record.
THE END.
INDEX.
Advent Images, 216
— Sunday, 216
Affusion, Trine, 75
Aisle and Alley, 14
Ales, Bride, 7
— Church, 4
— Clerk, 6
Alley and Aisle, 14
Altar, Bowing to, 32
— in Channel Islands, 65
■ — Communicants Bowing to, 34
— Pieces, 205
— Plate, 64
• — Servers at, 66
American Church in Paris, 51
Andrewes, Bishop, a Monthly Communicant, 5
Anthem Sung from Organ Loft, 203
Archpriest, his Privileges, 182
Arval Bread, 130
Ascension Day, Water connected with, 250
— at Tissington, 283
— Rain, 207
■ — at Penrhyn, 298
Ascription after Sermon, Kneeling at, 41
Baal Worship, 20, 290
Babbling, 17
Band in Church, 254
Banns of Marriage, 91
— Meaning of, 92
— Congratulatory words when published, 92
— Marriage, disliked by, 93
Baptism, First Water at, 74
— by Immersion, 80
— in Rivers, 82
— Holy Well Water for, 279
— Private, 82
■ — over Coffin of Dead Mother, 79
— Stamp Duty on Registering, 83
— of Blackamoors, 84
Baptismal Fees,_ 83
— Custom, Curious, 77
Baptised Child, Offerings to, 78
Bell on Screen, 211
— Passing, 121
— Sanctus, 69
Bequests to Poor, 138
Bible and Key Divination, 298
Bibles, Dice Cast for in Church, 10
Bidding Letters to Marriage, 95
— to Paris Funeral, 132
Bishop, Boy, 7
Bishop's Charges about Daily Prayers, 42
— on Infrequent Celebrations, 55
Books Chained in Churches, 206
Bounds, Beating the, 245
Bowing at Holy Name, 39
— to Altar, 32
— to Coffin, 129
Boy-Bishop, 7
Branks, 213
Bride Ales, 7
— Kissing the, too
Bridegrooms, Hiring, 113
Burial in White Dress, 143
— in Flannel, 144
Burial in Flowers, 145
— Garlands, 167
— Wesleyan Usage at, 129
— of Suicides, 157
— Superstition as to times of, 140
— Fees formerly Simoniacal, 138
Burials on North Side of Church, 153
— by Immersion, 152
— Erect, 150
— Uncoffined, 147
— by Torchlight, 145
Carling Sunday, 233
Carols, 259
— Christmas, 218
Cathedrals, Naves of, Fashionable Walks, 3
Candles at Funerals, 146
Canongate Marriages, 114
Cardinals in St. Paul's, 183
Catechising, Bishops on, 88
— at Eton, 89
Celebrations, Daily, intended, 53
Celebration, Early, 61
— Early, on Easter Day, 241
— Quarterly, 53
— Frequency of, 54, 59
— First Daily, in modern times, 61
Chalice, the Mixed, 69
Channel Islands, Altars in, 65
Chaplains, Gaol, 189
Chasuble and Cope, 56
Children, Unbaptised, Burial of, 143
Choir Boys formally Installed, 258
— Blessed by Bishop, 259
Choirs, Surpliced, 258
Chorister Boys Blessed by Bishop. 73
— at Celebration, 73
Christian Names, Odd, 76, and Appendix ii.
Christmas, Early Service at, 222
Christening Cap Worn First Night, 77
Christening Ornaments, 78
— Palm, 78
Church Ales, 4
— Hats Worn in, 49
— Clipping the, 18
— Decking the, 266
— Flapping the, 17
— Music Debased, 256
— Naves Open Spaces, 12
— Nomination of Candidate for Parliament in,
10
— Place in, for Marriage, 97
— Porch, Uses of, 24
— Private Prayer on entering, 36
— Refreshments brought into, 17
Churches, Secular Use of, 2
— Separation of Sexes in, 24
— Irreverence in, 1
— Decoration of, 226
— Blasphemous Plays in, 9
Churched, Dress of Women when, 86
Churching of Women, 84
— Name for, in Devon, 87
— Odd idea relating to, 87
— Pew, 87
— Place for, 86
34 1
342
INDEX.
Churchings, Register of, 88
Churchwardens, Duties of, 192
— Women as, 153
Churchyard, Hats removed on entering, 41
— Dancing in, 19
— Cross, Bowing to, 21
Cirencester, Nomination of Candidate for Par-
liament in Church, 10
Clergy, Respect for, in North, 179
— Refreshment for, 185
— Standing at Entrance of, 41
— Social Status of, 183
Clerical Duty, Payment for, 184
— M.P,'s, 189
— Neglect, 188
Clerics, Political, 190
Clerk Ales, 6, 195
Clipping the Church, 18
Coffins, 146
Coffin, a Parish, 148
— Borne on Napkins, 127
— ■ Bowing to, 129
— Bumping the, 129
— Lifting the, 133
— Nails of, Loosened, 159
— Resting Stones for, 130
— not mentioned in Burial Service, 148
Coiet, Dean, 8
Cope and Chasuble, 56
Cornish Holy Wells, 269
Cornwall, Heathen Sacrifices in, 291
Communicants Bowing to Altar, 34
— Giving in Names, 57
— Tokens, 73
Communion Customs, 62
— taken Fasting, 57
— of Sexes separately, 62
— Whole Congregation receiving, 64
— " Under the Gallows," 63
— Service, Men Standing during, 66
— Service, Kneeling through, 64
Congregation, Refreshment for, 186
Consecration, Singing before and after, 69
Courts, Ecclesiastical, in Churches, 3
Creed, Turning to East at, 18
Cross, Bowing to Churchyard, 41
Curates Saying the Prayers, 46
Cure for Consumption, 303
— for Shingles, 305
— for Sores, 301
— for Whooping Cough, 301
Customs, All Souls' Day, 253
— Ascension Day, 249
— Candlemas, 226
— Christmastide, 220
— -Circumcision. 2*4
— Easter Day, 240
— Epiphany, 225
— Good Friday, 237
— Holy Innocent's Day, 224
— Lenten, 231
— May Day, 243
— Maundy Thursday, 235
— Palm Sunday, 233
— Rogationtide, 244
— St. Andrew's Day, 215
— St. Clement's Day, 253
— St. Crispin's Day, 252
— St. Paul's Day, 226
— St. Stephen's Day, 253
— St. Thomas's Day, 217
— Shrove Tuesday, 227
— Trinity Sunday, 252
Customs, Whitsuntide, 250
Daily Celebrations intended, 53
— Prayers, 42
— Prayers, Bishops Charges about, 42
Dancing in Churchyard in Wales, 19
— Circular, 20
Dean Colet, 8
Death Agony, supposed relief during, 308
— a Protracted Process, 136
— Unfastening Doors before, 134
— Jews run off the Water on occasion of, 135.
Desecration of Sunday, 5
Devon, Heathen Sacrifices in, 285
— North, Odd Ideas in, 310
Dining with Duke Humphrey, 2
Dissenters Communicating in Church, 70
Divination by Bible and Key, 208
— by Candles, 294
Dog Pew at Northope, 15
— Tongs, 198
— Whippers, 197
— Whipper, Endowment for, 199
Dogs at Mass, 15
Doleing Day, 218
Dow Purse, 100
Duke Humphrey, Dining with, 2
Durham, Thoroughfares across Nave, 3
Duty, Clerical Remuneration for, 184
Dying Child screened from Parents gaze, 135,
Eagles for Epistle and Gospel, 205
East, Turning to, at Creed, 38
— Turning to, at Gloria, 40
Easter, Food Gifts at, 241
— Heaving at, 242
Eastward Position, 65
Ecclesiastical Courts in Churches, 3
Elizabeth Checked Distillation, 50
Espousals, 115
Eton Montem, 8
Eucharistic Superstitions, 299
Eye, the Evil, 310
Exorcism, 310
Fasting Communion, 57
— Dispensation from, 230
Fast and Festivals, Nelson's, 45
Fees (or Baptism, 83
Flagon, a Huge, 64
Flannel, Burial in, 144
Fleet Marriages, 112
Flapping the Church, 17
Frith Stool, 22
Fonts, Position of, 203
— Basins in, 204
— Removal of, 203
Funeral, Bellman announces, 131
— Bidding Letters, 131
— Breakfast, 129
— Cakes, 130
— in Cumberland and Westmoreland, 160
— Derivation of the word, 134
— Dinners, 131
— Freemasons, 169
— Offerings Collected on Sexton's Spade, 13K
Disposal of, 138
— Offertory, 137
— Singing at, 130
in Sixteenth Century, 155
Subscription for, 150
— to go way of Sun, 136
Bidding Rounds at, 131
INDEX.
343
Funeral, Parisian Bidding Letters at, 132
— Box carried at, 169
— Children's, in Cornwall, 126
— Choral, 119
— Curious, Custom at Swansea, 143
— Dole at, 131
— Garb Worn at, 124
— of the " Quality" last Century, 157
— Scarves at, 125
— Workhouse, 125
Gadwhip, the Caistor, 233
Gaol Chaplains, 190
Geddington, Pew at, 14
Gloria in Excelsis Sung on Festivals, 72
— Reverence made at, 34
— Turning to East at, 40
Good Friday, Black Vestments on, 239
— Fasting on, 239
— Marble Playirg on, 240
Gospel Read from Chancel Step, 66
Graves, Filling up, 157-158
— Brick, Whitewashed, 127
— Dressing, 170
— Evergreens stuck over, 169
— Facing North and South, 154
— Plastered Inside, 126
— Things put into, 141
— White Stones in, 150
Gravestone at Alton dated " Old Style,'' 165
Hats Worn in Church, 49
Heathen Sacrifices, 285
Holy Name, Bowing at, 39
Hot Pots after Marriage Service, 103
Hour-Glass in Pulpit, 208
Houselling Cloth, 70
Coloured, 72
Humphrey, Dining with Duke, 2
Hymns added to '"Singing Psalms," 49
— "Authorised," 48
Idolatry in Ireland, 288
— in Wales, 288
Ignorance, Popular, 293
Images, Respect for, 36
Immersion, Baptism by, 80
— Canon Cadman's Description of an, 81
— Wells in Churches for, 80
Infant Born with Hands Open, 74
— Males first Baptised, 76
— must Cry when Baptised, 75
— Offerings to, 75
— Oatcake Sewn in Clothes of, 74
— Plunged in Cold Water, 74
— Received into the Church, 75
Infrequency of Celebrations Condemned, 55
Innocent's Day, Gloomy idea of, 224
Ireland, Idolatry in, 288
Irreverence in Church, 1
— Henry VIII. tried to Stop, 4
— Condemned by Essayists, 50
Kettle, Mother Ludlam's, 214
King's Evil, Touching for, 303
King's Touch, Service for, 304
Kiss, the Parting, 148
Kissing the Bride, 101
Kneeling during Psalm cl., 38
Lay Readers, 1S9
Lent, Laws respecting, 229
— Observances of, 45
Licence, Marriage of Poor by, 116
Lord's Prayer, Standing when Read in Lesson,
40
Ludlam's, Mother, Kettle, 214
Machyn's Diary, 120
Marriage, Arrangement of Altar at, 107
— Banns of, 91
— Bible given at, 108
— Bidding Letters to, 94
— Bidding Letters in Paris, 96
— Breach of Promise of, 115
— Ceremony, Odd, 102
— Curious Rite in Scotland, 109
— Customs, 90
— An Odd Custom relating to, 101
— Form of Anathema at, 106
— Local Usages after, 104
— Parents do not attend, 103
— Place in Church for, 97
— of Poor by Licence, 116
— Portions of Brides published, no
— Purse put on Book at, gg
— Questions in, answered in low voice, 106
— Register Signed with Cross, 103
— Seasons when Prohibited, 90
— Service, Hot Pots after, 103
— Service, Joy Wishing in, 93
— in the Smock, in
— Special Church Doors for Entrance and Exit
at, 107
— Strange Scottish Custom, 109
— Taxes on, 118
— Walk round Village after, 107
— Wheat thrown over Couple after, 108
— Canongate, 114
— Fleet, 112
— May Fair, 114
— Savoy, 114
Married, Persons very much, no
May Day Fires, 289
May Fair Marriages, 114
Mayor, Standing at Official Entrance of, 41
Misletoe, 219
Mixed Chalice, the, 69
Morgengabe, 100
Mothering Sunday, 231
Music, Church, 254
Naves of Cathedrals Fashionable Walks, 3
— of Churches Open Spaces, 12
Neglect, Clerical, 188
Nelson's Fasts and Festivals, 45
New Year, Uslaering in the, 224
Non-Communicating Attendance, 62
Notices in Church, 194
Norwich, Cathedral Nave Fashionable Walk, 3.
Offerings to Holy Wells, 279
Offertory, Collection at, 67
— Mode of Counting, 68
Organs, Barrel, in Church, 256
— Movable, 206
Pall, Pauper, 146
— Funeral, 158
Parish Clerks, 194
— Women as, 195
Passing Bell, 121
— — Charge for, 124
Paul's, St., Fewness of Communicants, 56
— Walk, 1, 215
Pauper Pall, 146
344
INDEX.
Peculiars, 190
Penance, Legal Aspect of, 173
— Prayer Book View of, 173
Penances, Form of, 177
— Instances of, 175
— Recent, 178
Penny Weddings, T15
Pew for Churching, 87
— Dog, at Northope, 15
— at Geddington, 14
— Library, 203
Pews, 201
— Appropriation of, 13
— Bishop Corbet Condemned, 16
— Dean Swift on, 15
— Election for, 203
— Episcopal Objections to, 12
— Luxuriousness of, 16
— Pre-Reformation, 11
— Squabbles about, n
Pictures, Sacred, Respect for, 36
Pietas Londonensis, 44
Pixies, 310
Plate, Altar, 64
Plays, Blasphemous, in Churches, 9
Pluralities, 186
Porch, Church, Uses of, 24
Prayers, Daily, 42
— Private, on Entering Church, 36
— Relegated to Curates, 46
Preacher, Watch for, 260
Pre-Reformation Hat-Wearing in Church, 50
Priest and Parson, 180
— a Spirit-laving, 309
— Word used in North, 179
Principle of Vestments Retained, 56
Private Baptism, 82
■ — Prayer on entering Church, 36
Psalms, Old and New Versions, 47
Pulpit, Hour-Glass in, 208
■ — Movable, 206
Puritan Conscience, Elasticity of, 124
Puritan's Obscene Ballads, 9
Quakers, Penance by, 177
Rector, Lord, 181
Register of Churchings, 88
Relics in Churches, 213
Reverence made at Gloria, 34, 38, 39
Rush Bearing, Description of, 265
Rushes, Employment of, 264
St. Paul's School, 8
Sabbath and Sunday, 6
Sacrament Shilling, the, 300
Sacrifices, Heathen, 285
Sanctuary, Abolition of, 23
— Places so privileged, 22
■ — Privilege of, 22
Sanctus Bell, 69
St. Saviour's, Southwark, Consistory Court
held in, 4
Savoy Marriages, 114
Scarves at Funerals, 125
Scold's Bridle, 213
Scotland, Baal Worship in, 288
— Heathen Sacrifices in, 287
Screens, Post-Reformation, 205
Seasons when Marriage Prohibited, 90
Secular Use of Churches, 2
Sermon, Men Standing during, 67
Servers at Altar, 66
Services, Week-Day ; 45
Separation of Sexes in Church, 26
Sexes Communicating Separately, 63
Sextons, 196
Shrove Tuesday, Names given to, 527
Simnel Cakes, 231
Sin-Eater, 140
Singers, Position of, 202
" Singing Psalms," the, 46
— Given out line by line, 48
— Turning to "West Gallery at, 40
Sleepers in Church, 200
Souling, 253
Sternhold and Hopkins, 46
Stocks in Church Porch, 213
— Finger, 212
Stool, Jenny Geddes and her, 13
Stools, Portable, in Churches, 13
Strikes and the Clergy, 179
Suicides, Burial of, 154
Sunday Desecration, 5
— and Sabbath, 6
Tate and Brady, 46
Tax, Window, 212
Te Deum, Courtesy made in course of, 38
Tewkesbury Church, Laud forbad Courts in, 4
Tisslngton, Well Dressing at, 281
Tithe, Child, 75
Titles, Clerical, 181
Tomb, Curious, at Wimborne, 164
— Erroneous Inscription on, 166
Trine Affusion, 75
! Vcnite, Kneeling in course of, 37
1 Vestments, the, 56
! — Principle of the, 57
Voluntaries, 257
Wakes, 159, 297
Wales, Idolatry in, 288
— Superstition in, 297
Wassail Cup, 217
Weather Fdrecasts, 226
Wedding, a Dry-Lipped, 101
— Penny, 115
Well Dressing, 281
— of St. Winifred, 274
Wells, Holy, in Cornwall, 269
in Lancashire, 276
in London, 274
in Scotland, 278
Offerings to, 277
— Superstitions about, 280
Westminster Abbey, Secular Use of, 3
Whooping Cough, Cure for, 301
William HI. encouraged Spirit Drinking, 50
Winding Sheet, 146
Witchcraft, Detection of, 309
Women, Churching of, 84
— Dress of, when Churched, 86
Worship, Outward Acts of, 39
York Minster, Privilege of Vavasours, 3
Nave, Fashionable Walk, 3
Yule Log, 219
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